HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4946

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 23, 2026.

 The committee on Financial Services, to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1230) of John J. Lawn, Jr., and others for legislation to mandate cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer, reports recommending that the accompanying bill (House, No. 4946) ought to pass.

For the committee,

JAMES M. MURPHY.

        FILED ON: 12/16/2025

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4946

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)

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An Act mandating access to cancer screenings for firefighters through health care benefits plans or programs provided by the public employer.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

 SECTION 1. A firefighter employed as a full-time paid employee of a fire department of the State or a City, Town, Fire or Water District, shall be provided a cancer screening examination conducted by a physician not less than three years after the start of the firefighter’s employment as a firefighter and every three years thereafter during the course of the firefighter’s employment.

 This section shall also apply to members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, members of the 104th fighter wing fire department, and members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 and, for the purposes of this section, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Massachusetts Military Reservation, the Barnes Air National Guard Base and the Devens Regional Enterprise Zone established pursuant to said chapter 498 shall be fire districts.

 The examination shall include screening for, at a minimum and when applicable, the following cancers:

  Colon; Lung; Bladder; Oral; Thyroid; Skin; Blood; Breast; Cervical; Testicular; and Prostate.

 All costs associated with screenings provided under this section shall be borne by the firefighter’s health care benefits plan or program provided by the firefighter’s employer. No co-payment, deductible, coinsurance, or any out-of-pocket expense shall be required for such examinations, provided, however, that cost sharing shall be required if the applicable plan is governed by the Federal Internal Revenue Code and would lose its tax-exempt status as a result of the prohibition on such for these services.