The Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois recognized state Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights, for a bipartisan measure she spearheaded, officials announced in a news release, that benefits first responders and went into effect earlier this year.
According to the release, the law was designed to improve health and survivor benefits for first responders – law enforcement, correctional and probation officers, as well as firefighters – injured or killed in the line of duty.
“The risks taken and sacrifices made by first responders and other public safety employees to keep our community safe deserve to be met by more than our gratitude. They must be met with our support,” Canty stated in the release.
First responders are applauding Canty, the Arlington Heights village trustee-turned Springfield legislator in 2022, for leading the effort to pass House Bill 3249, which expands health care offerings for public safety workers, the release states.
“When the men and women who work to keep us safe face consequences of that dangerous work, it not only impacts them; it impacts their families,” Canty stated in the release.
Under state law, firefighters, police officers and other emergency responders severely injured on the job are eligible to receive lifetime health insurance, as are surviving spouses – until they remarry – and children of those killed in the line of duty, the release states.
“This measure will ensure affordable health care for public safety employees when they are seriously injured as well as their families in the tragic event of their death,” Canty stated in the release.
Officials explained in the release that some communities have offered only low-quality, high-cost health insurance plans.
“The public safety of our community will always be a priority,” Canty stated in the release. “As long as I’m in Springfield, I will continue to fight to make sure our first responders and those who perform such substantial services to this community get the assistance they deserve.”
Canty’s legislation, which she introduced in the General Assembly last year, ensures that injured first responders have access to the same insurance offerings that are available to active-duty employees, the release states.
The AFFI, according to its website, “provides services to support and educate local unions and individual members, with an emphasis on collective bargaining, legislative affairs and education.”
Area Democratic legislators, state Rep. Daniel Didech and state Sen. Adriane Johnson, both from Buffalo Grove, were also sponsors of the house bill.
