BOSTON — In his 14 years as an officer with the Hadley Police Department, David Bertera never had to worry about his heart health coverage. Massachusetts’ Heart Law guaranteed it.

But when Bertera developed career-ending tachycardia after taking a new job with the UMass Amherst Police Department, his claim for benefits was denied due to a gap in the 75-year-old Heart Law.

The law, enacted in 1950, offers protection for most of the state’s police officers, but not for the UMass Police, State Environmental Police, Department of Mental Health Police, Massport Police and State and Community College Police. Legislators and police leaders are pushing for a bill that would extend the Heart Law’s benefits to those uncovered sectors of the police force, including coverage for officers like Bertera.

“This bill provides the parity that is necessary in order for all of you that are serving in law enforcement to get equal treatment under the law, just like those that you are held accountable for,” Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow, the lead filer from the Senate, told proponents of the legislation during a press conference late last month at the State House.

The high-stress nature of policing leads to high rates of heart disease among officers. Speakers at the press conference noted that the average age of a police officer heart attack is 49 years old, compared to 67 years old in the general public.

Oliveira pointed out that 50% of police officers will die from heart disease within five years of retirement, and cardiac arrest accounts for 10% of all U.S. on-duty police deaths.

Those risks are equally present for officers in the sectors of the police force that are currently uncovered by the Heart Law. In response, supporters of the bill are demanding “equity” and “fairness.”

Several speakers noted that all Massachusetts police officers — including those currently uncovered — must pass the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training certification process.

“If you’re going to be held to the POST Commission standards and trainings and so forth, then you need the benefits,” said Rep. Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, who is the lead filer from the House. “Your families need the benefits, and we’re going to do all we can to make sure that happens.”

With the affected group being such a small subset of the state’s police force, UMass Amherst Police Lt. James Sullivan believes an extension of the law has been overlooked.

“I think it’s oversight, and not necessarily a malicious one,” Sullivan said. “There are 26,000 police officers statewide. This affects about 400 people. It’s not a large cohort, and we haven’t been able to get the lens to focus on this issue. Hopefully, we’re getting over that.”

Sullivan noted that serving as a police officer on a campus like UMass Amherst can be particularly stressful. UMass, he pointed out, was named the most violent college campus for its size by ABC News in 2004.

“That’s a frightening thing to think about, in what everything thinks is sleepy western Massachusetts, where if it’s west of 495, it doesn’t exist,” Sullivan said. “But in all seriousness, we have a great deal of turmoil.”

The bill, which stalled in the Senate Ways and Means Committee last session, is supported by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, including Oliveira, Garry, Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, and Rep. Michael Soter, R-Bellingham.

“What you have here is a level of bipartisanship which we don’t always see behind the scenes,” Soter said. “But you’re seeing it firsthand here, of appreciating those not just serving for us and protecting us, but also that you are citizens.”

Mitchell Fink writes for the Gazette as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program.