Dale's Motorcycle Blog

This isn’t a political blog at all, but I couldn’t help noticing that even the American Motorcyclist Association is now getting involved in the ongoing debate about health care reform.  The AMA feels that a government-run system may discriminate against motorcyclists by denying coverage to motorcyclists who are hurt while riding.

There is precedent for us to be concerned with regarding any health care legislation coming from Washington. For example in 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that was intended to ensure non-discrimination in health coverage in the group market. However, when it came to implementing the law, the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service and the Health Care Financing Administration – now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – issued a rule allowing insurers to deny health benefits for an otherwise covered injury that results from certain types of recreational activities, such as skiing, horseback riding, snowmobiling or motorcycling. Even though the AMA has fought this discriminatory rule with legislation, this indicates what could happen if a new health care bill is implemented by bureaucrats in Washington using biased data.

And not only are they expressing their concern, they want you to express yours, too, and the link above also has an editable email message you can send of to your Senator or representative straight from the AMA web site.