DETROIT — A bill passed by the Michigan Senate and House of Representative this year would establish a fund that will cover the cost of treatment and lost wages when firefighters are diagnosed with cancer.
Detroit Free Press reported that Gov. Rick Snyder is poised to sign this legislation into law. In Michigan, firefighters who develop cancer are ineligible for worker’s compensation unless they can prove their cancer came from on-the-job exposure.
The bill would create and administer the “First Responders Presumed Coverage Reimbursement Fund.” The fund will reimburse firefighters for the cost of treatment and lost wages when they are diagnosed with 10 kinds of cancer: respiratory tract, bladder, skin, brain, kidney, blood, testicular, prostate, thyroid and lymphatic cancers.
The Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union has been working to get this bill passed for more than a decade, according to the report.