In separate committee hearings, the Ohio House and Ohio Senate heard sponsor testimony on two pieces of legislation that would give first responders diagnosed with PTSD more treatment options while also preserving the stability of Ohio’s workers’ compensation system.

The companion bills – Senate Bill 384 (SB 384) and House Bill 556 (HB 556) – sponsored by Sen. Bob Hackett, Rep. Niraj Antani and Rep. George Lang will provide peace officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers free medical treatment and a paid time off benefit if they are diagnosed with PTSD. 

The Ohio Chamber supports this alternative approach to giving first responders more treatment options for PTSD because these bills create a separate post-traumatic stress disorder coverage fund housed outside the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that will preserve more than 100 years of precedent precluding purely mental injuries from BWC coverage. This approach – rather than PTSD workers’ compensation coverage proposed by HB 308 – alleviates our major concern about the expansion of BWC coverage for mental only claims to include coverage for all types of mental conditions for all classes of employees.

Likewise, the Ohio Chamber supports HB 556 and SB 384 because we believe the bills represent a legislative solution that gives first responders the additional treatment options they seek while also considering the consequences of upending well established workers’ compensation principles.

A workers’ compensation system that gives all employees company paid medical coverage and time off benefits for all mental conditions will jeopardize the ability of the Bureau to continue lowering premium rates which have shrunk every year since 2011 and to issue billion dollar policy rebates which help employers invest in equipment and technology that make workplaces safer.

As the end of the General Assembly nears, the Ohio Chamber will continue pushing back against proposals threatening the stability of the Buckeye State’s workers’ compensation system like HB 308 while highlighting the alternative approach, which would grant first responders the same medical and time off benefits as under HB 308 in a way that prevents future unintended consequences.