Workers to keep waiting

WASHINGTON – Sick nuclear weapons workers who want the government to help them get workers’ compensation checks will continue their long wait, a congressional watchdog agency said.

Although the Energy Department is processing more worker claims, it still does not have enough physicians to review them, a General Accounting Office report said. And the department is doing a poor job of telling workers why it is taking so long to process their claims.

The Energy Department is still reviewing the report and officials there were not ready to comment Tuesday, spokesman Joe Davis said. But Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who asked for the report, said it shows lawmakers must revamp the program.

“As we continue to look for a legislative remedy to the problem, the government accounting office report shows that the speed of processing of worker compensation claims has increased from a snail’s pace to a turtle’s crawl,” the Iowa Republican said.

Congress in 2000 created programs to help hundreds of Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers who may have developed cancer and other diseases from radiation or toxic chemical exposure.

The Labor Department gives eligible workers $150,000 and covers medical bills, while the Energy Department helps them get state workers’ compensation benefits.

By the end of 2003, Energy had processed about 6 percent of more than 23,000 claims received, the report said. And most of the processed claims were denied, partly because investigators found employees’ illnesses were not related to toxic exposure.

The report was released to congressional staff late Friday but was not given to the public until this week. Grassley is meeting with lawmakers to introduce legislation to speed up the claims process, said Grassley spokeswoman Beth Levine.

One option is to move the workers’ compensation program to the Labor Department. Labor has processed its nuclear worker claims faster, Grassley said. But Bush administration officials oppose the move because the departments still would have to work together to process claims. The Energy Department had control over the nuclear weapons plants when they were building bombs or their components.

Workers who win Energy Department claims also have no guarantee of ever getting a state workers’ compensation check in the mail. About one in five claimants in Washington, Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Iowa — states where the most claims were filed — may not be covered under a state workers’ compensation program, according to the report.