Sometimes Persistence (and having friends in the right places) Pays Off!

As I've advanced in my career, one of the things I've learned is that the distance or time between taking action and seeing results seems to get longer and longer.  When I was a young firefighter, you saw fire, you put water on the fire, it goes out.  Instant gratification!  When I was a young paramedic, you would see a sick patient, pull out your paramedic bag of tricks, and the patient would get better (or worse).  Again, instant gratification.  But now the results often come a long, long time after the effort is expended and I've learned to be patient.

Readers of this blog know that one of the issues we've been facing this year is a wrinkle in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that would result in many volunteer fire departments across the country suddenly being responsible for providing healthcare insurance to their volunteer members.  This would cause a significant negative impact on emergency services in many communities.  The IRS could have fixed the issue with a simple clarification, but for more than a year they have failed to take action or even respond to requests for information on the issue.  The IAFC and other national fire service organizations have been working on this for nearly a year without apparent effect.

As we entered the Christmas holidays, Congressman Barletta (PA) - I met him and discussed this issue informally with him at the IBHS ember storm demonstration last Fall that I wrote about in an earlier blog - introduced a bill that would take the matter out of the IRS' hands and impose a legislative mandate that volunteers be exempt.  His bill rapidly gained widespread bipartisan support and Senator Warner (VA) introduced a companion bill in the Senate - again with widespread bipartisan support.  Dozens of members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors and the noise level on the issue on Capitol Hill has been escalating rapidly.  As you know, we have been getting increasing media attention, too (see my last blog about my appearance on Fox and Friends on the issue).

I couldn't be happier to find out today that our efforts have paid off.  Today, in an IRS blog on tax policy issues, the IRS has announced that they will exempt volunteer fire and EMS personnel from the requirements of the law.  You can read their full blog here:  http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Treasury-Ensures-Fair-Treatment-for-Volunteer-Firefighters-and-Emergency-Responders-under-the-Affordable-Care-Act-Under-ACA.aspx.  Yes, I see that there still room for trouble in some of the language they have used, but in general, it looks like the IRS has actually given in and agreed with our requested interpretation and action on this issue.

I'm glad that everyone's efforts on this important issue have finally paid off.  It does wonders for morale when we see that someone really IS listening and that eventually, common sense does win out!