How Aon Partnered with Minnesota Firefighters to Create Crucial Health Benefits

August 29, 2024 8 mins

How Aon Partnered with Minnesota Firefighters to Create Crucial Health Benefits

Firefighters face a unique set of risks and long-term health consequences from their jobs. Aon worked with Minnesota firefighters to create a benefit program to address three primary health issues.

Key Takeaways

Minnesota’s fire departments are largely volunteer-based, resulting in a lack of health benefits for firefighters despite their greater risk for cancer, cardiac risks and emotional trauma.
Aon worked with a Minnesota non-profit established to provide health benefits to all state firefighters — both volunteer and paid.
Three years after successful passage of state legislation, we speak with the non-profit’s co-founder to hear an update on how the health program is working.

Firefighters face a unique set of risks in the work they do. In addition to the obvious risk of serious injury in a fire, they also face long-term health consequences. The most serious of these risks revolve around three main areas: cancer, cardiac health and emotional trauma.

Research shows that firefighters are at a 14 percent greater risk of dying from cancer than the rest of the population, largely due to the presence of smoke and other carcinogens in fires.¹
Cardiac health is a leading cause of line-of-duty deaths,²in part stemming from the physical exertion of fighting fires.
The emotional health of firefighters is volatile, especially as it relates to the stress and trauma associated with the job. Nearly half say they have considered suicide, with nearly one in six making an attempt.³

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A Workforce in Transition Prepares to Meet a Host of Challenges

In a distinguished career of more than three decades, first as a volunteer firefighter and then as a fire chief in Minnesota, George Esbensen saw that the health needs of firefighters weren’t being met — particularly in those three areas. These issues were especially pronounced for volunteer firefighters, who make up about nine in ten of the firefighters in the state. These firefighters had no access to health benefits from their volunteer role, putting them at even greater risk.

In 2016, Esbensen co-founded MnFIRE, an organization whose purpose is to help firefighters address those increased health risks. Realizing that their effort would need partners, MnFIRE looked to the private sector, evaluating consulting firms who have the expertise and market presence to develop a customized solution for the firefighters. MnFIRE partnered with Aon, whose experience would design a program specifically for Minnesota’s 20,000 firefighters. While this effort was in progress, MNFire enacted a four year effort to ensure the state legislature would pass the Hometown Heroes Act, which created the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program.

The Hometown Heroes Assistance Program provides critical illness coverage for firefighters to help offset the costs of these health risks. MnFIRE also runs a support hotline staffed by professionals trained in trauma to offer assistance at any time. Training programs run by MnFIRE focus on raising awareness of the heightened risks firefighters face, along with strategies to mitigate them.

Since its launch in 2021, the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program has provided training for more than 17,500 firefighters across the state. More than 700 have used the assistance hotline, and over 150 have had critical illness claims paid. In the coming months and years, Esbensen hopes to replicate the success of MnFIRE in other states, in addition to strengthening the program in Minnesota.

Watch Esbensen discuss the need for programs like Hometown Heroes Assistance, how it got started and where it’s going:

17K+

17,500 firefighters across Minnesota have received risk mitigation training from the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program since its launch.

¹ National Institute for Safety and Health
² Centers For Disease Control and Prevention
³ International Association of Fire Fighters

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