FLORIDA HEART BILL

112.18 Firefighters and law enforcement or correctional officers; special provisions relative to disability.--

(1) Any condition or impairment of health of any Florida state, municipal, county, port authority, special tax district, or fire control district firefighter or any law enforcement officer or correctional officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), (2), or (3) caused by tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in total or partial disability or death shall be presumed to have been accidental and to have been suffered in the line of duty unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.

However, any such firefighter or law enforcement officer shall have successfully passed a physical examination upon entering into any such service as a firefighter or law enforcement officer, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of any such condition.

Such presumption shall not apply to benefits payable under or granted in a policy of life insurance or disability insurance, unless the insurer and insured have negotiated for such additional benefits to be included in the policy contract.

-----------

The emphasis was added by me to point out that pre-existing conditions can be exceptions to the coverage, even though the condition did not disqualify you from employment.

Hmmmmmmmmm. let us see......we go to training every year. We have to do the fitness course when we go.......but before we can do the course members of the training section take your BP and record it in officle paperwork saying if you passed or failed the course. Seems to me there maybe a paper trail there for when your BP started going higher year after year, and after you had passed a phsyicl to get the job.

Now to address what has been posted. One person claimed another was talking out of both sides of his fingers. Well the fact is maybe, just maybe our HR department knows about this law, allowed several staff memebrs to take advantage of the law, but found that the law would be to expensive to pay all and so now they are playing dumb when it comes to tha rank and file. Do you think that could happen? :roll:

Quoting Anonymous:

Well the fact is maybe, just maybe our HR department knows about this law, allowed several staff memebrs to take advantage of the law, but found that the law would be to expensive to pay all and so now they are playing dumb when it comes to tha rank and file. Do you think that could happen?

==========

Nope. Don't think that could happen.

It's workers' comp.
Workers' comp is insurance.
The costs are paid by the insurance company.
The benefits are not paid by HCSO.
And HCSO doesn't decide who meets the criteria for the benefits.

So HCSO has no motive to resist workers' comp law. The very law that they have been assisting their employees file for benefits under for decades.

===========

Don't you just love conspiracy theories that are looney?

:P

I have only looked over the law one time and I think it says that the agency shall continue to pay all medical costs, including monthly scrips. It appears the insurance carrier would have to cover these costs. HCSO, through the County, is self insured and only pays a company to manage the money.

At this point I confess to being a little confused.

What "law" are you referring to?

This thread begins with the PBA claiming credit for passage of FS 112.1 which states:

112.10 Deduction and payment of premiums.--Upon the request in writing of any officer or employee, the proper officials of each and every county, school board, governmental unit, department, board or bureau of the state, are hereby authorized and empowered to deduct from the wages of such officer or employee, periodically, the amount of the premium which such officer or employee has agreed to pay for such insurance, and to pay or remit the same directly to the insurance company issuing such group insurance.

History.--s. 3, ch. 20852, 1941; s. 1, ch. 69-300; s. 2, ch. 72-338.

and appears to have nothing to do with the presumption of coverage of heart disease.

---------

The "law" I've been talking about is 112.18 and is specifically about giving police officers the presumption of line of duty cause for heart disease:

112.18 Firefighters and law enforcement or correctional officers; special provisions relative to disability.--

(1) Any condition or impairment of health of any Florida state, municipal, county, port authority, special tax district, or fire control district firefighter or any law enforcement officer or correctional officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), (2), or (3) caused by tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in total or partial disability or death shall be presumed to have been accidental and to have been suffered in the line of duty unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence. However, any such firefighter or law enforcement officer shall have successfully passed a physical examination upon entering into any such service as a firefighter or law enforcement officer, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of any such condition. Such presumption shall not apply to benefits payable under or granted in a policy of life insurance or disability insurance, unless the insurer and insured have negotiated for such additional benefits to be included in the policy contract.

(2) This section shall be construed to authorize the above governmental entities to negotiate policy contracts for life and disability insurance to include accidental death benefits or double indemnity coverage which shall include the presumption that any condition or impairment of health of any firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer caused by tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in total or partial disability or death was accidental and suffered in the line of duty, unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence.

History.--s. 1, ch. 65-480; s. 1, ch. 73-125; s. 32, ch. 77-104; s. 692, ch. 95-147; s. 21, ch. 99-392; s. 3, ch. 2002-236.

(That's the whole text of this part of the law.)

----------

I am, of course, retired and I don't know what changes may have been made since I left. But I think you may find that although the SO is self-insured in the area of automobile crashes, this is not the case in the area of workers' compensation. The fiscal office sets aside an amount of money monthly on behalf of each employee to pay insurance premiums to an insurance company to pay for workers' compensation insurance.

I see nothing in the law, quoted above, about the agency having to pay for prescriptions, etc. for life. You may be confusing this with the fact that a person who is permanently disabled and has to leave the job due to a workers' compensation injury has, as part of the negotiation for termination benefits, the inclusion of a lump sum (or fixed payments for a determined period) an amount of money which is intended to pay for all future medical treatment for the injury.

-----------

Further, I'm still waiting for you to name names of those "high level staff members" (present employees or retired) who are receiving these benefits that were denied to the rank and file.

And to explain how HR knows nothing about the new law but has implemented it for the staff.

And please don't insult our intelligence by saying that they are doing things for the staff that they won't do for the troops. They aren't going to break the law. Making this kind of claim simply makes you sound like a union recruiter.

8)