This is an important press release by Jeff Hennie of the MRF. Information to contact the MRF will be listed at the end of the article.

Washington DC

 The Motorcycle Riders Foundation reports that legislation to close the
 loophole that currently exists in our nation's health insurance
 industry has been introduced in the US Senate (S 616) and House (HR
 1076).

 Under current law, group market insurance customers - that's everyone
 who has insurance from a job in the private sector, military or
 government - can be denied benefits for a particular injury just
 because it came from an motorcycle accident.

Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
 Act (HIPAA) in 1996 to ensure proper access to health insurance for
 all American workers. Once the bureaucrats at the US Department of
 Health and Human Services issued their final ruling on the law they
 managed to allow a loophole that can be used to discriminate against
 motorcyclists when the need health insurance the most, after an
 accident.

 The loophole also is used by insurance companies to deny benefits for
 any accidents that stem from horseback riding, snowmobiling, and snow
 skiing, just to name a few.

 "This legislation will right an injustice done to America's
 motorcycling community," said Jeff Hennie, Vice President of
 Government Relations for the Motorcycle Riders Foundation.  "We are
 asking the Congress to tell the insurance industry that they can no
 longer get away with refusing benefits that have been bought and paid
 for by motorcyclists."

 The House legislation has been referred to the Committee on Energy and
 Commerce, while the Senate bill is sitting before the Health,
 Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

 In order to pass this legislation, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation
 needs your help. Please join your fellow freedom fighters and ask your
 Members of Congress and Senators to co-sponsor this important
 legislation.

 The legislation to close this loophole has been around for the last
 few sessions of Congress, but the bills introduced in this 110th
 Congress have a few new twists. First, the House Democrat lead is new.
Welcome Bart Stupak to the picture; he is a 8th term Democrat from
 Upper Peninsula Michigan and the top third of the mitten state. Mr.
Stupak's district has tens of thousands of miles of snowmobiling
 trails and most of his constituents use the snow machine to commute,
 run errands and socialize, making the snowmobile an integral part of
 everyday life. Mr. Stupak is also close friends with the Chairman of
 the House committee that has jurisdiction over the measure; and is a
 subcommittee chairman on the same full committee.

 The House Republican lead is the same, Michael Burgess. Burgess is
 medical doctor from, Flower Mound, TX. Burgess was an OB-GYN,
 delivering 3000 babies before running for Congress in 2003.

 The Senate sponsors are the same returning Senators as previous
 sessions of Congress, Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME).
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation thanks all of the champions of this
 legislation.

 Another new development is that the House has adopted the Senate
 language, making passage into law slightly simpler by eliminating the
 need for both bodies of Congress to form a conference committee to
 iron out the legislative differences.  Previously the House and Senate
 had slightly different solutions to closing the loophole.

 Last Congress saw no major movement on the legislation. With your
 help, we can close the loophole that allows our health insurance
 providers to deny benefits for an injury simply because it involved a
 motorcycle.

 Ask your federal Representative to support HR 1076 and your two US
 Senators to support S 616.  Should you receive any commitments or
 denials to support the legislation, or if you have any other
 legislative question or concerns, please contact the MRF.
 

Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington, DC 20002-4980
202-546-0983 (voice)
202-546-0986 (fax)
http://www.mrf.org (website)