Healthcare Reform

As both consumers of healthcare and the nation’s primary providers of pre-hospital emergency medical care, professional fire fighters know first-hand the shortcomings of our current health care system.  

The cost of health care has risen dramatically in recent years, and fire fighters have been forced to give up wage increases and other benefits in order to maintain their health care coverage.   And fire fighters witness the problems of the uninsured on a daily basis, as Americans without coverage increasingly rely on the 911 emergency response system as their primary health care provider.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is intended to expand access to health insurance and reduce the cost of health care. 

The IAFF supported certain parts of the legislation, but strongly opposed provisions that sought to reduce spending on health care by taxing the value of high cost insurance plans.   The IAFF succeeded in limiting the scope of the tax and delaying its implementation for several years.

For more information about how the new law impacts fire fighters:  click here

For more information about how the law works:  click here