Your RECA Claim is either Pending or Approved. Now What?

You are a former miner, miller, ore transporter, core driller, or radiation remediation worker with a work-related radiation exposure illness. You’re at the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) finish line with the U.S. Department of Justice. Letters, employment records, and medical documentation have been submitted and received. Your Department of Justice Claims Examiner has now requested your bank information to arrange a direct deposit of your $100,000 RECA award.

Besides your plans for that upcoming tax-free financial award, what’s next?

Since you’re a former uranium worker listed under “Section 5” of the RECA law, upon receipt of your DOJ $100,000 award, you are entitled to file for and receive additional compensation and medical benefits through another government agency, this time the United States Department of Labor. You are likely to receive substantial compensation of at least $50,000 soon after your initial U.S. DOL claim is processed. These Claims Examiners essentially validate your RECA claim and payment, then quickly approve and direct payment of your additional $50,000 from the U.S. DOL, also tax-free.

After you file (there are also benefits available to survivors of workers), an entirely new form, the “EE-1,” opens the door to additional benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

Why Are Two Government Agencies Involved?

You might wonder why two different government agencies provide benefits. The original RECA was created in 1990. It was intended as a relatively straightforward cash compensation program for uranium workers and downwinders made sick by radiation exposure. Ten years later, nuclear weapons workers joined uranium miners, millers, and transporters in lobbying for and helping pass the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA), making not only compensation but also extensive health care benefits available.

Additional Compensation

As a result, you may be eligible for benefits under both programs, but only if you apply to both. Specially trained Claims Examiners in the Denver office of the U.S. Department of Labor process the claims of Section 5 RECA workers. Upon successful verification of your $100,000 DOJ RECA award, you may receive an additional $50,000. But that is by no means all.

EEOICPA was further amended in 2004, creating “Part E” of the program, which includes a lifetime impairment assessment and award process that can provide incremental payments up to an additional $250,000 over a claimant’s lifetime. So yes, in some cases, living RECA and EEOICPA beneficiaries have received total cash compensation of up to $400,000. Most, however, receive somewhat less than that amount because their illnesses result in a lower lifetime impairment rating.

Medical Benefits Add Even More Value

Is all this complicated? Yes. But bear with me, because there are even more important benefits to understand.

EEOICPA was designed to provide “compassionate compensation” to the men and women whose work contributed to America’s national security. As such, the medical benefits are extraordinary. Subject to review by a DOL Claims Examiner, essentially any medically necessary, physician-prescribed treatment, medication, surgery, home care service, or even certain home and vehicle modifications may be covered at 100% by the program, with no deductibles or caps, when related to a claimant’s accepted covered conditions.

More Workers Can Qualify

In the case of RECA Section 5 workers, which includes uranium miners, millers, transporters, and now core drillers and remediation workers, the eligibility window for these benefits has been extended to cover work performed through December 31, 1990, essentially adding 19 more years of potentially eligible uranium work and related illnesses. However, the claims process must be started before the end of 2027. That is why you are seeing so much information encouraging eligible workers and their surviving family members to apply now.

Home Health Care and Family Caregiver Support

But wait, as they say, there’s more.

The medical benefits may include comprehensive home health care, including some level of paid family-provided support and care to help treat and manage a former worker’s covered illnesses. For many former workers who receive both RECA and EEOICPA benefits, that can mean a family caregiver, potentially a spouse, adult child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or even a close friend, assisting with physician-ordered home care duties.

For many individuals who are near or in their retirement years, that could mean hundreds of dollars each week in additional family income. Combined with periodic increases in illness-related impairment awards under Part E, these benefits can make managing these illnesses significantly more manageable.

Don’t Leave Benefits Unclaimed

By now, you have gained a sense of some of the financial and medical benefits that eligibility for RECA and EEOICPA can provide. The key next step is ensuring that you and your claim are fully and successfully engaged in the process.

Cold War Patriots was created twenty years ago to help you navigate that process and ensure you receive the benefits you have earned through your hazardous work in support of America’s nuclear security. Over those twenty years, we have helped more Americans access these programs than any other organization. We have developed the skills, knowledge, and experience to help you as well.

Call or email us today: 855.230.1339
[email protected]

By Tim Lerew, Cold War Patriots Spokesperson