Stakeholders Raise Questions About Volunteer Fire Departments' Self-Insurance

When Pennsylvania lawmakers approved Act 46, setting up a cancer presumption for firefighters, many said they were doing the right thing for the brave men and women who put their lives on the line protecting people and property. Little did they realize that seven years later, the legislature would still be debating the unintended consequences of the law and the fact that it seems to have wreaked havoc on volunteer fire departments around the state. “The market for workers’ compensation coverage for our firefighters disappeared, forcing most townships into the State Workers’...