Rep. Harris Co-Sponsors the “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 12, 2013

Rep. Harris Co-Sponsors the “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act”

Legislation would exempt such volunteers from the employer mandate provision of Obamacare

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Andy Harris, M.D., co-sponsored legislation that would protect volunteer firefighters and emergency responders from the employer mandate provision of Obamacare.

Under the Obamacare provision, employers with 50 or more full-time workers must provide health insurance or pay penalties. An IRS interpretation of this provision would force volunteer fire companies to provide health insurance for their volunteers or they would have to pay the fine. This is problematic for fire companies, particularly in Maryland where almost 89 percent of stations rely entirely or almost entirely on volunteers. In addition, emergency medical service volunteers typically work multiple 12- and 24-hour shifts—easily allowing them to reach the 30-hour-per-week threshold that would qualify them as "full time."

Introduced by Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania on December 10, the “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act” would ensure that emergency services volunteers, including volunteer firefighters and EMTs, are not counted as full-time employees under the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

“First responders play a vital role in our communities,” Harris said. “Classifying volunteers as employees, and then forcing volunteer fire companies to pay for expensive Obamacare-compliant health care insurance may push volunteer fire companies to cut down on their number of volunteers to avoid classification as a large employer. This could have disastrous consequences—closing firehouses and putting citizens in danger.”

“Forcing the employer mandate provision on volunteer fire companies is yet another example of how Obamacare harms Americans,” Harris added.

The National Volunteer Fire Council and the International Association of Fire Chiefs also support the legislation. Companion legislation was also introduced in the Senate.