Firefighter cancer presumption in Delaware
For cancer, Delaware doesn't give a workers' comp presumption. Rather than a presumption, fire departments must give firefighters a cancer benefit once they've served 3 years.
Del. Code tit. 18, ch. 67B is the law here. It covers disability payments and state cancer insurance cash.
A cancer benefit is insurance your department must carry that pays out when a firefighter gets a listed cancer. Workers' comp (workers' compensation) is the insurance that pays medical bills and part of your lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under Delaware's law
- Your service lasted 3 years at minimum.
- Volunteer firefighters count too, but most receive the smaller $1,500 monthly disability payment.
- A board-certified doctor in the specialty matching your cancer type has to make the diagnosis.
- Claims must be filed no later than 2 years after you're diagnosed.
- Active service is required, or you must have formally left it within the past 60 months.
- Paid firefighters need approval from the Delaware Fire School, proven through a fit test each year.
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers that count in Delaware
A malignant tumor counts even if it isn't listed, as long as its cells grow without control and spread into normal tissue.
| Cancer | Covered in Delaware? |
|---|---|
| Bladder cancer | Yes |
| Brain cancer | Yes |
| Breast cancer | Yes |
| Colon or rectal cancer | Yes |
| Esophagus cancer | Yes |
| Kidney cancer | Yes |
| Leukemia | Yes |
| Lung cancer | Yes |
| Multiple myeloma | Yes |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | Yes |
| Prostate cancer | Yes |
| Skin cancer, melanoma included | Yes |
| Testicular cancer | Yes |
| Thyroid cancer | Yes |
| Cancer of the ovaries, cervix or uterusOnly cervical cancer gets named. The law's general definition lets ovarian and uterine cancer count too | Partly |
| Cancer of the throat or mouthThroat and voice box cancers count as respiratory. The law's general definition lets mouth cancers count too | Partly |
| Liver cancer | If linked to your work |
| Mesothelioma | If linked to your work |
| Pancreatic cancer | If linked to your work |
| Stomach cancer | If linked to your work |
In Delaware, how do you file a claim for firefighter cancer?
- To apply for disability payments and state cancer insurance cash, ask your department or its benefit or pension board how to do it, and name the law that applies (Del. Code tit. 18, ch. 67B). That board is the office that decides retirement and disability pay for your department.
- You can also file a workers' comp claim, which is a second claim with the Office of Workers' Compensation in the Division of Industrial Affairs, Delaware Department of Labor. Delaware's cancer law does not help with that one, so your doctor has to say in writing that your work caused the cancer.
- Pull together your diagnosis, records of your fires and exposures, the dates you were hired and served, and any results from a physical exam.
- Try to start soon, because time limits apply. Ask your department or the board how long you have to apply. A workers' comp claim has its own deadlines.