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S 1792

Requires insurance companies to provide at least ninety days of rehabilitation services to an insured upon a doctor's prescription

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Nathalia Fernández

Requires insurers to cover bladder, cervical, lung, and testicular cancer screenings for Massachusetts firefighters with no cost-sharing when ordered by a primary care physician.

REFERRED TO INSURANCE
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Bill Summary · S 1792

Summary — S.1792 (2025): Mandatory coverage for certain cancer screenings for firefighters

Status: Referred to Insurance (Senate)
Introduced: 1/10/2025 (filed); listed as introduced 5/15/2025
Primary sponsor (filed text): Sen. Michael D. Brady (MA)

Note: The bill text submitted and marked “S.1792” amends Massachusetts General Laws (Chapter 41) to require insurance coverage for specified cancer screenings for firefighters. This differs from the short title supplied in the request (which references 90 days of rehabilitation services). The summary below follows the bill text provided.

Purpose

To require health insurance plans to cover, without cost-sharing, certain cancer screenings or evaluations for firefighters when a screening is ordered by the firefighter’s primary care physician, by deeming those services “medically necessary.”

Key provisions

  • Inserts Section 101B into Chapter 41 of the Massachusetts General Laws.
  • Eligible screenings/evaluations: bladder, cervical, lung, and testicular cancer.
  • Eligible persons: any permanent, full‑time, call, volunteer, intermittent, part‑time or reserve firefighter.
  • Coverage requirement: Screenings/evaluations performed under Section 101B must be covered by the insured’s plan for the full cost of the screening/evaluation.
  • Cost-sharing prohibition: Coverage may not be subject to co‑payments, deductibles, coinsurance or other cost‑sharing.
  • Scope of plans: The screenings are to be treated as medically necessary for purposes of coverage by any insurance plan, explicitly including firefighters insured under chapters 32A, 175, 176A, 176B or 176G or any other general or special law.

Who is affected

  • Directly: Firefighters in Massachusetts in all listed employment/volunteer categories who receive a referral from their primary care physician for one of the specified cancer screenings.
  • Indirectly: Health insurers and health plans that cover firefighters under the cited statutes and any other applicable state-regulated plans; employers/municipalities providing firefighter coverage may see changes in plan costs.

Procedural history (as provided)

  • Filed: 1/10/2025 (Senate docket no. 283).
  • Referred to Insurance: 1/13/2025 (listed twice).
  • Referred to Public Service: 2/27/2025; House concurred 2/27/2025 (as listed).
  • Read twice and referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: 5/15/2025.
  • Hearing scheduled: 06/02/2025.
  • Reported favorably by committee and referred to Health Care Financing: 11/13/2025.

(Notes: the provided action dates contain some duplication and sequencing irregularities; the bill remains at the committee/referral stage per the supplied status.)

Potential impact

  • Access: Likely increases access to targeted cancer screening for firefighters by removing financial barriers when screenings are physician‑referred.
  • Public health: May facilitate earlier detection and treatment of cancers associated with firefighting exposures.
  • Cost: May increase short‑term insurer and plan expenditures (screenings covered without cost‑sharing); potential downstream savings from earlier detection are possible but not quantified.
  • Fiscal: No appropriations or budgetary offsets specified in the bill text.

Sponsors & related measures

  • Sponsors listed in materials include federal and state legislators (note: the filing sponsor in the bill text is Sen. Michael D. Brady).
  • Related/companion bills noted: HR 3460, SD 283, A 2037, and several prior-session bills (A 9211, A 492, A 1163, A 3654, S 7010).

If you’d like, I can prepare a one‑page brief summarizing possible fiscal impacts, or compare this draft to prior-session companion bills to identify changes.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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