§2581.4. Cancer screenings; certain firefighters and fire service employees

            A. A classified firefighter employed as a full-time paid employee of a municipal or parish fire department or fire protection district and fire service employees employed by a nonprofit corporation under contract with a fire protection district shall be provided a cancer screening examination conducted by a physician. The initial examination shall be conducted not less than three years after the start of employment, and subsequent examinations shall be conducted during the course of employment in accordance with the following schedule:

            (1) Every five years for firefighters and fire service employees who are not less than twenty years of age and not more than thirty-nine years of age.

            (2) Every four years for firefighters and fire service employees who are not less than forty years of age and not more than forty-nine years of age.

            (3) Every three years for firefighters and fire service employees who are fifty years of age or older.

            B. The examination shall include but not be limited to screening for the following cancers:

            (1) Colon.

            (2) Lung.

            (3) Bladder.

            (4) Oral.

            (5) Thyroid.

            (6) Skin.

            (7) Blood.

            (8) Breast.

            (9) Cervical.

            (10) Testicular.

            (11) Prostate.

            C. Any firefighter or fire service employee who retires from active service, including a firefighter or fire service employee who retires due to a disability, shall be provided cancer screening examinations by his former employer pursuant to the schedule provided in Subsection A of this Section.

            D. All costs associated with cancer screening examinations provided for in this Section shall be paid by the firefighter's or fire service employee's employer or former employer. No copayment, deductible, coinsurance, or any out-of-pocket expense shall be required for such examinations.

            E. No firefighter or fire service employee shall be required to participate in cancer screening examinations.

            F. The provisions of the Section shall not be applicable to any firefighter or fire service employee who resigned or was terminated by his employer.

            G. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to require a personal health insurance company to pay for cancer screening examinations for firefighters or fire service employees that are conducted more frequently than such examinations are recommended in the most recently published recommendations established by the American Cancer Society or the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

            Acts 2024, No. 554, §1, eff. June 10, 2024.