Important Bill in Congress Affects YOU!
Well, another Spring is here although this past weekend's snow perhaps challenges that statement. It was interesting getting our biggest snow of the year on Easter weekend. It has been awhile since I've put fingers to keyboard on this blog. I've started a couple of times but the words just didn't come. Fortunately, I've been sufficiently motivated to write now because of an important bill currently in Congress that affects all of us who are motorcyclists. (It actually affects many, many more Americans who enjoy skiing, horseback riding, and riding their ATVs.)
Two identical bills have been introduced in Congress (House and Senate bills 616) that can fix a health care/insurance glitch that affects motorcyclists and some other users of recreational equipment. The problem arose from the HIPPA legislation signed by President Clinton and interpreted by the Health & Human Services Department. The intent of the legislation, among much, much more, was to prohibit the insurance industry from discriminating against various subgroups, including motorcyclists. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association) was heavily involved in crafting the original language protecting motorcyclists. Unfortunately, after passage of the law the interpretation by HHR actually ended up doing the opposite and we are all currently under rules that could allow our insurance companies to refuse coverage for injuries sustained while participating in a legal activity. As I noted, this problem covers other activities besides motorcycles such as horse back riding and skiing.
The fix to this problem is in the form of two bills currently finding their way through Congress. If you go to the Rapid Response site on the AMA’s website (http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp), you can send letters/email to our State Senators and local Representative supporting the two bills. There are two links: 1 for the Senate bill and 1 for the House bill. Please take a few moments and send the correspondence to each section of Congress. It is very, very easy to do and can yield great benefit for us as motorcyclists.
If you don’t think this is an important issue, try this:
1) Close your eyes and visualize yourself having a nice Sunday ride down the Parkway. Really get into it. Notice the fresh smells of spring and the gorgeous colors beginning to pop up everywhere. Feel the slight cool breeze on your face as you move smoothly in and out of curves. Got it?
2) O.K., now while you are there, quickly catch a glimpse of the oncoming truck and camper and see it as it clips the side of your bike sending you off the road and over the edge of the shoulder. Be aware of the pain and wonder what happened to your passenger. Uh, doesn’t feel quite as good now…
3) Move the scene ahead to where you have been in the hospital for several weeks recovering from your injuries. Oh yeah, you’re out of work and have expended all of your sick leave so you have no income at this point. Still feeling o.k.?
4) Finally, see yourself opening correspondence from your insurance company in which they DENY PAYMENT FOR ALL OF YOUR MEDICAL SERVICES simply because YOU WERE RIDING A MOTORCYCLE!
This is the exact possibility that faces you now! Your insurance company can legally do this to you NOW! It has happened many times across the country already. (The AMA does a good job of monitoring this stuff and reporting it back to the membership.) So, if you want to take steps to insure that this doesn’t happen to you, please take 5 minutes and follow the link listed above and click on “Take Action”. You don’t have to know their addresses. Everything is pretty much done for you on the website including having written the letter.
Take care and keep the rubber side down!
--Cecil
Link
Two identical bills have been introduced in Congress (House and Senate bills 616) that can fix a health care/insurance glitch that affects motorcyclists and some other users of recreational equipment. The problem arose from the HIPPA legislation signed by President Clinton and interpreted by the Health & Human Services Department. The intent of the legislation, among much, much more, was to prohibit the insurance industry from discriminating against various subgroups, including motorcyclists. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association) was heavily involved in crafting the original language protecting motorcyclists. Unfortunately, after passage of the law the interpretation by HHR actually ended up doing the opposite and we are all currently under rules that could allow our insurance companies to refuse coverage for injuries sustained while participating in a legal activity. As I noted, this problem covers other activities besides motorcycles such as horse back riding and skiing.
The fix to this problem is in the form of two bills currently finding their way through Congress. If you go to the Rapid Response site on the AMA’s website (http://www.amadirectlink.com/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp), you can send letters/email to our State Senators and local Representative supporting the two bills. There are two links: 1 for the Senate bill and 1 for the House bill. Please take a few moments and send the correspondence to each section of Congress. It is very, very easy to do and can yield great benefit for us as motorcyclists.
If you don’t think this is an important issue, try this:
1) Close your eyes and visualize yourself having a nice Sunday ride down the Parkway. Really get into it. Notice the fresh smells of spring and the gorgeous colors beginning to pop up everywhere. Feel the slight cool breeze on your face as you move smoothly in and out of curves. Got it?
2) O.K., now while you are there, quickly catch a glimpse of the oncoming truck and camper and see it as it clips the side of your bike sending you off the road and over the edge of the shoulder. Be aware of the pain and wonder what happened to your passenger. Uh, doesn’t feel quite as good now…
3) Move the scene ahead to where you have been in the hospital for several weeks recovering from your injuries. Oh yeah, you’re out of work and have expended all of your sick leave so you have no income at this point. Still feeling o.k.?
4) Finally, see yourself opening correspondence from your insurance company in which they DENY PAYMENT FOR ALL OF YOUR MEDICAL SERVICES simply because YOU WERE RIDING A MOTORCYCLE!
This is the exact possibility that faces you now! Your insurance company can legally do this to you NOW! It has happened many times across the country already. (The AMA does a good job of monitoring this stuff and reporting it back to the membership.) So, if you want to take steps to insure that this doesn’t happen to you, please take 5 minutes and follow the link listed above and click on “Take Action”. You don’t have to know their addresses. Everything is pretty much done for you on the website including having written the letter.
Take care and keep the rubber side down!
--Cecil
posted by Unknown @ 8:39 AM
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