Aerial view of subsidence craters at Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site
White Card · EEOICPA

Up to $400,000, tax-free. And free home health care.

If you or a family member worked at the Nevada Test Site or another Department of Energy site, in any job, and became ill, the EEOICPA White Card pays compensation and covers skilled home health for life. Alara helps you claim all of it, and unlike a benefits guide, we are the nurses who deliver the care. Here is the whole picture.

Start care — have a nurse call you See what it can be worth

This guide is for people who already have a White Card. Care can start right away. Don’t have one yet? That is a different path →

Quick check

Could the White Card apply to you?

Two taps, no forms, nothing saved. This is general information, not a determination of your eligibility.

What the White Card actually is.

Before anything else, the ground floor, in four facts.

EEOICPAThe Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act: the federal law that pays people who got sick from work at the Nevada Test Site, a Department of Energy site, or an atomic-weapons plant. It provides two separate things: cash compensation and medical care for life.
The White CardProof you have been approved for the medical side. It works like an insurance card, except no copays, no deductibles, and no limits on covered care. The Department of Labor pays the provider directly, and you never receive a bill.
Who qualifiesYou may qualify if you, or a family member, worked at one of those sites in any job — trades, security, cleaning, office, cafeteria, not only the scientists — and later became ill. Whether the illness is covered is the one thing to check next.
Where Alara fitsWe are enrolled with the Department of Labor’s billing system (WCMBP) and accept the card directly. We provide the covered care, handle the authorization, do the billing, and make sure you receive every benefit you are entitled to.
You already have a White Card See the benefits most people never claim → Travel money, a paid family caregiver, consequential conditions, and more. Most holders leave some of it on the table. You think you might qualify Start a free case review → A nurse reads your worksite, your work, and your illness together and tells you whether the card can be opened.

Who is who in your claim.

Five names come up constantly. Here is what each one decides, so the letters stop being confusing.

DEEOICThe Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation, inside the Department of Labor. It decides claims, accepts conditions, and authorizes care. Every decision letter you receive comes from here.
Resource CenterThe DOL’s free, provider-neutral help office — in Las Vegas at (702) 697-0841. They help you file, check where a claim stands, and never charge you.
Authorized RepresentativeA person you appoint in writing to act on your claim: file, object, appeal. By DOL rule, your home health agency cannot be your representative — which is why we point you to one instead of pretending to be one.
AcentraThe DOL’s medical billing administrator. Benefit and coverage questions: (800) 736-6001. Providers bill through it; you never see a bill.
Where Alara fitsThe nurse-owned agency built to provide the care your card covers, draft the Letter of Medical Necessity from recorded clinical data, manage the authorization, and coordinate everyone above — so none of it is your job.

The benefits most people never claim.

These are real, they are yours if they apply, and almost no one claims all of them.

Each one ends with the exact step to take. You can act on most of these yourself, today, without speaking to anyone.

Almost always missed

Travel reimbursement (form OWCP-957)

Every trip to a doctor, specialist, hospital, lab, or pharmacy for an accepted condition is reimbursable at the federal mileage rate. A patient going to oncology twice a week and the pharmacy weekly can leave hundreds of dollars a month unclaimed.

Do this yourselfDownload form OWCP-957 from dol.gov, log your mileage or attach receipts, and submit it to DEEOIC (the Department of Labor’s Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation — the office that runs your card). They mail you a check. You do not need us to do this, and you can claim past trips.
Very often missed

A family member can be paid to provide your care

If a spouse, son, or daughter already helps you bathe, dress, cook, or get to appointments, they may be employed and paid for that care through your White Card. They become a trained, nurse-supervised home health aide, and the program covers their wages.

How to startThis one runs through an agency, and it is straightforward: 1) tell us who already helps you when you set up care; 2) we hire and train them as a home health aide, working under our nurses on your plan of care; 3) the program pays their wages, at no cost to you. One rule: that family member cannot also serve as your Authorized Representative with the DOL. Send us the referral and we set it up.
Very often missed

You may be paying Medicare copays the White Card should cover

Many patients run their cancer treatment, medications, or equipment through Medicare and pay copays, when the White Card should cover those, related to an accepted condition, at no cost to you. A chemotherapy support drug at $200 a month, or a hospital bed at $150 a month, may already be covered.

Check thisAsk whether your treatment, medications, and equipment for your accepted condition are billed through your White Card. If you are paying out of pocket for anything related to it, that is usually fixable.
Sometimes missed

An updated impairment rating

The DOL pays additional lump-sum compensation based on a physician’s impairment rating. If your condition has worsened since your original claim, a re-evaluation may entitle you to more.

Who handles itYour Authorized Representative files impairment requests. Ask them whether a re-evaluation is worth doing. (Alara does not file these.)
Often missed by survivors

Survivor benefits

When a covered worker dies from an accepted condition, the surviving spouse and eligible children may be entitled to compensation. Many widows of Test Site workers never learn this.

Who handles itAn Authorized Representative can determine eligibility and file. If you are not sure whether you have one, the Resource Center below can point you.

What the White Card covers at home.

For the conditions accepted under your claim, the card covers skilled care in your own home, at no cost to you:

  • Skilled nursing: assessment, wound care, medication management, disease management, and more.
  • Physical therapy: strength, mobility, and balance, toward your own goals.
  • Occupational therapy: returning to daily activities safely and independently.
  • Medical social work: connecting you to resources and identifying the benefits you may be missing.
  • Home health aide services: personal care under nursing supervision.
  • Caregiver training: if a family member helps care for you, formal training is covered as part of the plan of care.

Beyond home health, your benefits can also include prescription medications, durable medical equipment (hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen), medically necessary home safety modifications such as grab bars and ramps, travel reimbursement, and diagnostic and specialist visits, all tied to your accepted conditions.

One correction worth thousands of dollars: home health is not only for after a hospital stay. If a physician orders it and it relates to an accepted condition, it is covered any time, ongoing, for as long as it is medically necessary. And the hours are not fixed: see how your care hours are set, and how they can grow →

What the White Card can be worth.

Beyond the home health it pays for, EEOICPA can include one-time and ongoing compensation. The Department of Labor sets the amounts and they depend on your claim; these are the program figures, for context.

$150,000
Part B

A one-time, tax-free lump sum for an accepted covered illness, plus lifetime medical benefits.

Up to $250,000
Part E

For illness tied to toxic exposure: impairment and wage-loss compensation, on top of medical benefits.

$2,500
Per 1% impairment

Part E pays $2,500 for each percentage point of whole-body impairment. If your condition worsens, a re-rating can add more.

Up to $125,000
Survivors (Part E)

Eligible survivors of a worker who died from an accepted condition may receive compensation of their own.

Combined, EEOICPA can reach up to $400,000 in tax-free compensation. Only the Department of Labor determines your amount.

How the parts can stack — an illustration

Say a worker has an accepted Part B cancer, and an accepted Part E toxic-exposure condition rated at 20% whole-body impairment. Here is how the pieces add together:

Part B lump sum$150,000
Part E impairment (20% × $2,500)$50,000
White Card home health & medical careNo cost to you
Illustrative total, before any wage loss$200,000

Illustrative only, to show how the parts combine. Part E can also pay wage-loss compensation, and eligible survivors may have a claim of their own, so an actual case can differ in both directions. Only the Department of Labor determines your amounts. Try the illustrative impairment estimator →

Consequential conditions: the single biggest missed benefit.

A consequential condition is a new problem that develops because of your accepted illness or its treatment. Once the DOL accepts it, it is added to your White Card and all care for it is covered at no cost to you. Most patients, and most physicians, have never heard of this.

The new problem can be physical or mental, and which ones apply is specific to you and your diagnosis, which is exactly why it gets overlooked. What matters is the pattern: if something new has appeared since your accepted illness or its treatment, it may be addable. The way to find out is to raise it.

How it gets added, step by step

  1. A nurse identifies and documents a finding, for example new numbness since chemotherapy, or a positive depression screen.
  2. Your physician documents the causal link between your accepted condition or its treatment and the new condition.
  3. The agency submits an EN-28 (Request to Add a Consequential Condition) to Acentra, the DOL’s medical billing administrator, with the physician’s documentation and the clinical screening.
  4. DEEOIC reviews. If accepted, the condition is added to your White Card.
  5. The authorization and plan of care are updated, and care for the new condition is now covered.
What this means for youEvery condition added opens a new authorization, so three accepted conditions means three covered authorizations instead of one. If anything new has developed since your diagnosis, raise it. Alara screens for this on day one of care, using validated tools, and works with your physician to pursue it.

Don’t have a White Card yet? That is a different, longer path.

Almost everything above is for people who already have a card and can use it now. Getting a card is a separate process, and a longer one, but it is worth starting, even if you were denied before. The program has expanded over the years, adding covered conditions and exposure categories, so a past denial is not permanent.

You file with the Department of Labor: Form EE-1 as the worker, or Form EE-2 as a survivor. When a condition is accepted, you receive the White Card for covered medical care.

You never pay anyone a percentage. Two no-cost resources exist specifically to help:

DOL Las Vegas Resource Center

(702) 697-0841

The primary, no-cost navigation resource for Test Site workers in Southern Nevada. They help with filing, benefit questions, and provider connections at no charge. If you think you may qualify, start here.

An Authorized Representative who specializes in EEOICPA can also file and manage the claim for you. Alara does not file initial claims, that is the role of Authorized Representatives and the Resource Center, but we will tell you honestly what your options look like and point you to the right people.

Not sure whether your case is worth pursuing? Start a case review. A nurse reads your worksite, your work, and your illness together and tells you whether the White Card can be opened, then points you to the free help to file and provides the care it covers.

Start a free case review

The White Card and Medicare. You can have both.

The White Card is not Medicare and does not affect it. The White Card covers your accepted EEOICPA conditions; Medicare covers everything else. Many patients use both, White Card home health for the occupational illness and Medicare for other conditions, so every part of their health is covered. Having one does not cancel the other.

What we do, and what we do not.

Being clear about the line is part of being the expert. Everything short of the financial claim is exactly what the best White Card agencies do.

Alara does

  • Provide the home health care your card covers
  • Handle the authorization and the billing
  • Screen for and pursue consequential conditions
  • Identify benefits you are missing, and educate you on them
  • Connect you to your Resource Center and Authorized Representative

Alara does not

  • File your initial EE-1 or EE-2 claim
  • Act as your Authorized Representative with the DOL
  • File impairment-rating requests
  • Take any percentage of your compensation

Have a benefit question we have not answered?

The DOL’s billing administrator, Acentra, answers benefit and coverage questions directly at (800) 736-6001. For anything about your home health care, reach Alara at (702) 814-9630.

Common questions.

Does the White Card cover home health care?

Yes. Benefits include skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, medical social work, and home health aide services for accepted conditions, at no cost to you.

Do I pay anything for White Card home health?

No. There are no copays, deductibles, or out-of-pocket costs for covered services. The Department of Labor pays your provider directly.

What is a consequential condition?

A new condition that is a consequence of your accepted EEOICPA condition or its treatment. Once the DOL accepts it, it is added to your White Card and covered. Examples include depression secondary to cancer, or diabetes caused by steroid treatment for beryllium disease.

Can I use the White Card and Medicare at the same time?

Yes. The White Card covers your accepted EEOICPA conditions; Medicare covers other conditions. They work alongside each other and do not cancel each other out.

What if I was denied EEOICPA benefits before?

A previous denial is not permanent. The program has expanded its covered conditions and exposure categories over the years. Contact the DOL Las Vegas Resource Center at (702) 697-0841 about reapplying.

Can I get reimbursed for travel to appointments?

Yes. Travel to appointments related to your accepted conditions is reimbursable at the federal mileage rate. File form OWCP-957 with DEEOIC; you can claim past trips.

Reviewed by Alara’s Director of Nursing, RN. Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC), dol.gov/agencies/owcp/energy. General information, not a determination of your eligibility or coverage. Your accepted conditions, your physician, and the Department of Labor determine what applies to your claim.