Healthcare coverage for volunteer firefighters

The concern that local governments will be required to provide health-care coverage to their volunteer firefighters after passage of the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was allayed by a recent U.S. Treasury Department ruling. In a January 10 blog post, the Treasury Department said that governmental organizations would not be required to provide health insurance for volunteer firefighters and other emergency responders because these individuals will not be considered full-time employees under the Treasury's soon-to-be issued final regulations on the employer shared responsibility provisions and the definition of full-time employee.