RightsFighting Health-care BiasAnti-discrimination bill introduced in Washington
When you get sick or injured, how do you pay for your medical care? You’ve got insurance through work? Great. Now how do you plan to pay for your medical care if you ever get injured riding a motorcycle? Think the same health insurance you receive through work will cover you there? Maybe not. As a number of AMA members have discovered, some employers specifically cut off health benefits for workers when they’re riding a motorcycle. And that has left a few motorcyclists facing tens of thousands of dollars in uncovered medical bills. This is an extremely dangerous trend for all of us, whether we ride on the road or in the dirt—or if we have children who ride who are covered under the same insurance policy. The cost of recovery from a serious crash can devastate a family’s finances. That’s why the AMA has worked hard to get legislation introduced in Washington that would eliminate health-insurance discrimination against motorcyclists. We almost won the fight two years ago. Now, the push is on this year to get that legislation passed into law. In February, U.S. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) introduced a bill in the House to address this problem. And on the same day, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) introduced identical legislation in the Senate. “The HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act,” known as HR 1076 in the House and S 616 in the Senate, would bar employers from discriminating against those who take part in legal recreational activities such as motorcycling, ATV riding, skiing, snowmobiling or horseback riding when it comes to the health-insurance programs they offer their workers. Two years ago, the full Senate unanimously passed this bill, but the House adjourned before enacting the legislation. So that put us back at square one. Fortunately, we could still count on the support of legislators from both parties in getting the 2007 effort under way. As Rep. Burgess noted, “The development of this bill could not have been possible without bipartisan congressional support and the hard work of the American Motorcyclist Association.” What’s particularly frustrating about this effort is that we actually had this problem solved more than a decade ago. In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (the HIPAA referred to in this year’s bill), that contained language prohibiting employers from denying health-care coverage based on a worker’s participation in legal activities such as motorcycling. But when federal bureaucrats wrote rules implementing that law a few years later, they reversed the intent of Congress, allowing health-insurance discrimination against motorcyclists and others to continue. It’s taken 10 years, but working with the All-Terrain Vehicle Association, the American Council of Snowmobile Associations, the American Horse Council, the BlueRibbon Coalition, the Motorcycle Industry Council, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and the National Ski Areas Association, we have now gotten back to where we were in 1996. And that means we all need to push hard for passage of this year’s HIPAA Correction Act. What can you do?Go to the AMA Rapid Response Center at www.AMADirectlink.com and send a message in support of the bill to your congressman and senators. Do it now—we can’t afford to wait another 10 years.Open HatredSometimes hidden agendas against motorcyclists aren’t so hidden. Just look at these excerpts from an e-mail to a constituent written by Washington state Sen. Adam Kline (D-King) explaining why he supports a bill that would ban off-road riding, even on private property, when the bike’s sound is “audible” at the property line. “I signed on because I have been annoyed, endangered, and angered one too many times by people riding motorized dirtbikes and other off-road vehicles that have no damn business anywhere,” Kline wrote. “It’s a damn annoyance to folks who see the outdoors as a place to go for quiet and solitude and self-exploration. “I would be happy to ban the use of the internal combustion engine off-road by anyone without a handicapped sticker, subject to a stiff fine.”Want to oppose this restrictive legislation? Go to the AMA Rapid Response Center at www.AMADirectlink.com. NEW RULES IN VIRGINIASound DecisionA Virginia bill that would have banned the use of dirtbikes or ATVs within 500 feet of a house has died. And in its wake, riders and officials in one Virginia county are working together to come up with a more reasonable approach to the sound issue. State Delegate R. Lee Ware (R-Powhatan), who sponsored the original, highly restrictive legislation, let the bill die after representatives from the Virginia Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition promised to work with Powhatan County officials to resolve sound complaints there. The coalition has since met with the county Board of Supervisors to create a committee that will tackle the issue. That committee is made up of several members of the county board, the planning commissioner, the Commonwealth’s attorney, five riders, and Tim Norris, AMA Life Member and president of the Virginia Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition. As a starting point, Norris brought to the first meeting a copy of a draft sound law written by the AMA designed to address the concerns of neighbors while preserving reasonable riding opportunities on private land. And he says that session has opened up a dialogue between the two sides that could lead to real progress. “What we’ve done here can serve as a model for other localities,” Norris says. FREE HELMETS AND TRAINING?Transportation Secretary Urges Safety InitiativesU.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, an avid motorcyclist, would like to see the motorcycle industry do more to promote safety. Her suggestion? Give everyone who buys a motorcycle a free, or discounted, helmet and free rider training. “Helmets and proper training are just as important as brakes or headlights when it comes to the well-being of motorcyclists,” she said. Peters made the suggestion in a speech to the Motorcycle Industry Council in Indianapolis in February. During that meeting, she also outlined what her department is doing to improve motorcycling safety, including: • Starting the pilot phase of the long-awaited motorcycle crash causation study this summer. “The study will help us to zero in on the factors contributing to crashes involving motorcycles and to identify where we can best target our resources to affect the outcome, perhaps even prevent the crash altogether.” • Awarding more than $6 million in grants to states for rider training and motorist-awareness campaigns. • Working with the Federal Highway Administration’s Motorcycle Advisory Council, which is focusing on making highways safer for motorcyclists through better design, construction and maintenance. Edward Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, is a member of this council. • Asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to bring together representatives of the motorcycling community to discuss ways to improve motorcyclist training. © 2007, American Motorcyclist Association |
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