DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa House lawmakers unanimously advanced a bill out of a public safety subcommittee on Tuesday that would expand health care benefits to full-time firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service providers.

The bill requires public employers to provide benefits that include cancer screening examinations every three years of employment. The policy provides a $1 million appropriation for the state to pay for these screenings.

The bill also expands the definition of cancer by striking the 14 cancer types covered for retired first responders by the state and adding a more generalized description. This will include more cancer diagnoses in the definition. This is something that first responder families have been asking for from Iowa lawmakers for years.

“I can speak up for those yet to be diagnosed, I can speak up for my son,” said Kelly Stoaks, widow of former DMFD firefighter Brian Stoaks. Brian passed from pancreatic cancer several years back and was not one of the types of cancers where treatment would be covered by the state. “Fourteen cancers are covered by a presumption in our state. There are over 200 types of cancers all our firefighters are exposed to. Are any of you really willing to say that we should limit coverage? That we should limit coverage to only 14 of them? Firefighters have an increased risk of developing cancer due to the smoke and hazardous chemicals they are exposed to in the line of duty.”

A similar bill passed through an Iowa Senate subcommittee last week. All three State Representatives on this House subcommittee stated that it’s now finally time to get this bill to the governor’s desk. In the Iowa House, it will have to clear the public safety committee to be safe from the funnel week deadline.

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