Las Vegas Victims’ Fund won’t complete payouts this month as planned
Several hundred Las Vegas shooting survivors have yet to receive money from the Las Vegas Victims’ Fund.
Organizers of the fund previously said that all of the $31.4 million collected would be distributed to eligible victims by the end of March.
The fund planned to pay $275,000 to the families of each of the 58 people killed in the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting, as well as to another 10 people who were paralyzed or suffered permanent brain damage. People who had an overnight hospital stay were to receive between $17,500 and $200,000 depending on the number of overnights. Payments have been going out to and received by people in these categories.
The fund has not yet said how much is to be distributed to people who were treated on an emergency or out-patient basis on or before Oct. 10.
According to an email sent Wednesday to people who applied for funding in that category, “those applications have taken much longer to process.”
The email, obtained by the Review-Journal, says the fund received more than 300 applications for that category of financial need.
“Nearly half of those applications indicated medical treatment from a provider other than the 15 Las Vegas-area hospitals with whom we are working,” the email said, adding that materials for those applications need to be mailed, causing a delay.
“There are still a handful of applications that have not yet been verified by medical providers. Since we are distributing 100 percent of the funds collected, we cannot determine the benefit amount for your category until all applications have been verified.”
The email was signed by Scott Nielson, chairman of the fund.
“We’re trying very hard to process the claims and get the information back as quickly as possible so we can distribute the money,” Nielson told the Review-Journal. “We appreciate these people’s patience and we hope they understand.”
Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.
