Texas Municipal League Calls for Modification of the Presumption Statute

In 2005, the Texas Legislature enacted legislation to create presumptions of compensability for Texas firefighters and EMTs when they seek benefits for certain medical conditions such as myocardial infarctions, tuberculosis and cancer. For the past four years, self-insured municipalities have interpreted the presumption legislation to apply only to three types of cancer: testicular cancer, prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Injured workers have contended that the presumption applies to every form of cancer. The resulting litigation has been challenging for both sides.

The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool has provided workers’ compensation coverage for a number of Cities involved in the litigation. The Texas Municipal League has recommended a creative and well-designed proposal to handle these cases in the future.

Texas Firefighters and Cancer: A Broken System

By Bennett Sandlin

The way we care for firefighters who are diagnosed with cancer needs to be fixed because it isn’t working well for firefighters or the public they serve.

The problem is not with medical treatment for their cancer, which is a matter of health insurance coverage. The problem is in workers’ compensation coverage, which provides for lost income and other benefits. Specifically, the problem is determining whether the cancer is related to firefighting duties.

The full TML proposal is available here.