PTSD benefits expansions on table in two states

Lawmakers in two states are considering bills that would expand existing post-traumatic stress disorder presumptions for first responders.

Maine’s H.B. 82, introduced Monday, would strike the Oct. 1 deadline for repealing the state’s rebuttable presumption for post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by law enforcement and corrections officers, emergency dispatchers, firefighters, or emergency medical services workers “continuing the rebuttable presumption indefinitely.”

S.B. 860, introduced to Virginia lawmakers on Jan. 3, would increase from 52 weeks to 500 weeks the maximum duration of benefits after the date of diagnosis that workers compensation benefits are payable for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder incurred by law-enforcement officers and firefighters acting in the line of duty.

The bill would also remove the prohibition on medical treatment, temporary total incapacity benefits, or temporary partial incapacity benefits from being awarded beyond four years from the date of the qualifying event that was the primary cause of the post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder. Additionally, the bill would expand the definition of law-enforcement officer to include any civilian employed by a county, city, or town police department or by a sheriff’s office as a crime scene investigator for the purposes of workers compensation claims related to post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or depressive disorder.