Bill Text: MS HB1033 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: First Responders Health and Safety Act; revise to provide that the cancer benefits will be paid by the state and not insurance policies.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 11-1)
Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB1033 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2022-HB1033-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Insurance; Appropriations
By: Representatives Hale, Carpenter, Creekmore IV, Eure, Evans (91st), Ford (73rd), Goodin, Horan, Pigott, Rushing, Scoggin, Tubb
House Bill 1033
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 25-15-405 AND 25-25-409, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE MISSISSIPPI FIRST RESPONDERS HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE CANCER BENEFITS UNDER THE ACT WILL NOT BE PAID FROM INSURANCE POLICIES BUT SHALL BE PAID BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE FROM FUNDS APPROPRIATED BY THE LEGISLATURE; TO REPEAL SECTION 25-15-407, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES THAT THE COST OF PURCHASING INSURANCE POLICIES THAT PROVIDE FOR CANCER COVERAGE MUST BE BORNE BY THE FIRST RESPONDERS' EMPLOYERS; TO AMEND SECTION 7, CHAPTER 467, LAWS OF 2019, AS LAST AMENDED BY SECTION 2, CHAPTER 364, LAWS OF 2021, TO REVISE THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE MISSISSIPPI FIRST RESPONDERS HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT TO CONFORM WITH THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 25-15-405, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-15-405. (1) As an alternative to pursuing workers' compensation benefits, upon a diagnosis of cancer, a first responder is entitled to the following benefits:
(a) Provided the
diagnosis occurs on or after the first responder's effective date of coverage and
for five (5) years after retirement, a * * * benefit of up to Thirty-five
Thousand Dollars ($35,000.00) of coverage for each approved claim of a diagnosis
payable to the first responder upon acceptable proof to the * * * Attorney General's
Office of a diagnosis by a board-certified physician in the medical specialty
appropriate for the type of cancer diagnosed that the cancer was caused by an
occupational hazard and that there are one or more malignant tumors
characterized by the uncontrollable and abnormal growth and spread of malignant
cells with invasion of normal tissue and that either:
(i) There is metastasis, and surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy is medically necessary;
(ii) There is a tumor of the prostate, provided that it is treated with radical prostatectomy or external beam therapy; or
(iii) The first responder has terminal cancer, his or her life expectancy is twenty-four (24) months or less from the date of diagnosis, and will not benefit from, or has exhausted, curative therapy.
(b) Provided the
diagnosis occurs on or after the first responder's effective date of coverage and
for up to five (5) years after retirement, a * * * benefit of up to Six
Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($6,250.00) for each approved claim of a
diagnosis payable to the first responder upon acceptable proof to the * * * Attorney General's
Office of a diagnosis by a board-certified physician in the medical
specialty appropriate for the type of cancer involved that:
(i) There is carcinoma in situ such that surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy has been determined to be medically necessary;
(ii) There are malignant tumors which are treated by endoscopic procedures alone; or
(iii) There are malignant melanomas.
(c) The combined total of benefits received by any first responder under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection (1) during his or her lifetime shall not exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
(d) Provided the date
of disability occurs on or after the first responder's effective date of
coverage, a disability benefit payable as a result of a specific cancer to
begin six (6) months after the date of disability and submission to the * * * Attorney General's Office
of acceptable proof of disability caused by the specified disease or events
such that the illness precludes the first responder from serving as a first
responder:
(i) For nonvolunteer first responders, a monthly benefit equal to sixty percent (60%) of the first responder's monthly salary as an employed first responder with a fire or police department or a monthly benefit of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), whichever is less, of which the first payment shall be made six (6) months after the total disability and shall continue for thirty-six (36) consecutive monthly payments unless the first responder regains the ability to perform his or her duties as determined by reevaluation under subparagraph (iv) of this paragraph, at which time the payments shall cease the last day of the month of reevaluation;
(ii) For volunteer firefighters, a monthly benefit of One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) of which the first payment shall be made six (6) months after the total disability and shall continue for thirty-six (36) consecutive monthly payments unless the first responder regains the ability to perform his or her duties as determined by reevaluation under subparagraph (iv) of this paragraph, at which time the payments shall cease the last day of the month of reevaluation;
(iii) Such monthly benefit shall be subordinate to any other benefit actually paid to the first responder solely for such disability from any other source, not including private insurance purchased solely by the first responder;
(iv) Any first responder receiving the monthly benefits may be required to have his or her condition reevaluated. In the event any such reevaluation reveals that such person has regained the ability to perform duties as a first responder, then his or her monthly benefits shall cease the last day of the month of reevaluation; and
(v) In the event that there is a subsequent recurrence of a disability caused by a specified cancer, which precludes the first responder from serving as a first responder, he or she shall be entitled to receive any remaining monthly payments.
(e) An eligible first responder who dies as a result of a compensable type of cancer, or circumstances arising out of the treatment of a compensable type of cancer, but does not submit sufficient proof of claim prior to the first responder's death, is entitled to receive benefits specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection (1) and made available to the deceased first responder's beneficiary or beneficiaries.
* * *
( * * *f) An otherwise eligible first responder shall be precluded from the benefits listed under this section if he or she has
filed for workers' compensation for the same
diagnosis of cancer.
SECTION 2. Section 25-15-409, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-15-409. (1) The state, * * * not
later than * * *
April 1, * * *
2022, * * *
shall appropriate Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00) to the Attorney
General's Office to fund the benefits payable under this article.
(2) The * * * Attorney General
shall adopt such rules and regulations as are reasonable and necessary to implement
the provisions of this article. Such regulations shall include the process by which
a first responder files a claim or claims for cancer and the process by which
claimants can appeal a denial of benefits.
(3) The * * * Attorney General
shall * * *
establish firefighter cancer prevention best practices as it relates to personal
protective equipment, decontamination, fire suppression, apparatus and fire stations.
SECTION 3. Section 25-15-407, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides that the cost of purchasing insurance policies that provide for cancer coverage must be borne by the first responders' employers, is repealed.
SECTION 4. Section 7, Chapter 467, Laws of 2019, as amended by Section 2, Chapter 471, Laws of 2020, as amended by Section 2, Chapter 364, Laws of 2021, which provides for the effective date of the Mississippi First Responders Health and Safety Act, is amended as follows:
Section 7. This act
shall take effect and be in force from and after * * * the effective date of House
Bill No. ___, 2022 Regular Session.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
