Vaccine
Compensation Program Changes (HR 3741)
In
February 2002 Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) and Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA)
introduced legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for filing a
petition in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to six years and establish a
two-year window for families to file a petition if they were previously excluded
from the Program by the existing statute of limitations.
Other
provisions of the bill would:
- Increase
the compensation for vaccine-related deaths to $300,000;
- Make
the compensation for lost earnings more generous;
- Allow
compensation for the costs of family counseling and creating a guardianship;
- Allow
for the payment of interim attorneys fees and costs while a case is under
review.
During
the past few years NVIC has testified in Congress that the 1986 law has been
seriously gutted by government officials in charge of operating the compensation
system, who are reluctant to give compensation to children hurt by vaccines
because it is an admission that vaccines cause injury and death. In a Scripps
Howard report, NVIC’s Barbara Loe Fisher was quoted as saying “We were so
disappointed to find out as the years went on that the spirit and intent of the
compensation program was not being lived up to. . .this has caused a crisis in
trust.”
What
YOU Can Do:
HR
3741 has already been introduced in the House of
Representatives. Please contact your member of Congress and let them know about
this bill. Tell them your personal
story and how this change would help your family.
Please
circulate this information to your friends and relatives and ask them to do the
same.
Send
NVIC any responses that you get.
How to contact your member
of Congress:
You
can identify your member of Congress by calling the Capital switchboard at
202-224-3121. Ask to speak to the person working on health issues.
Using
the US Mail system is not a good choice right now as letters are still being
held up to be irradiated.
E-mail
is a better choice. Constituent e-mail has a better chance of being read than
general e-mail although many legislative e-mails have a form letter that bounces
back.
The best
way to e-mail is to go to: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
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