James E. Malone Jr.

Rule Changes

Died December 16, 2024, from brain cancer

Maryland became the latest battleground in a national fight to protect firefighters from cancer when the James Malone Act took effect January 1, 2026, requiring every county with a self-insured health plan to provide free cancer screenings to professional firefighters—no copays, no deductibles, no excuses. The law, named for former Delegate Jimmy Malone who died of brain cancer in December 2024 after decades in the fire service, targets ten cancer types that kill firefighters at dramatically higher rates than the general population. The same month Maryland's law launched, President Trump's signature on the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act expanded federal death benefits to families of firefighters who die from occupational cancer—putting the federal government's stamp on what firefighters have been saying for years: cancer is a line-of-duty death.

Updated Feb 5