DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa firefighters seeking medical coverage got a big win earlier this month when Governor Reynolds signed a bill to expand the types of cancers covered in the state for first responders.

Now, that same coalition is focusing on a federal bill that would expand the definition of line of duty deaths.

“Over the past five years, we’ve been working on trying to get the line of duty death benefit at the federal level to include cancers,” said Joe Van Haalen, president of Des Moines Professional Firefighters. “Just like here in Iowa, we’re seeing much more cancer in the fire service and all kinds of cancer. And so this is part of that.”

Next week there will be a hearing where widows and family members will testify to United States lawmakers in Washington, D.C. specifically on what these benefits would have meant to their families. The bill is called “Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025“. There have been several versions of the bill over the years, none making it through both chambers of Congress.

“I think right now there’s a federal benefit of around $300,000,” said Van Haalen. “It might be a little bit higher than that for the families of fallen firefighters. And so that would apply to anybody who had a firefighter die due to cancer, line of duty death. Those financial benefits would be passed on to them, whereas currently right now cancer is not a part of that.”

Van Haalen encourages Iowans to submit a message that is already filled out at this link. It urges all lawmakers sponsoring and not sponsoring the current legislation to pass it this year.

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