[Mrfnews] 07NR05 - News From The Hill

[mrfnews at mrf.org]

This is a resend of a previous release. The MRF apologizes for any  
inconvenience.


07NR05 - News From The Hill

MRF E-MAIL NEWS
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)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice-President of Government Relations  
jeff at mrf.org (e-mail)

#07NR05- News From Washington DC


The View from Capitol Hill

Federal Legislation to End Discrimination of Bikers Introduced

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.

In other news...
IS DETROIT BACK IN BUSINESS?

The new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is going  
to do everything he can to bring back the glory days of the Motor  
City. Detroit is far from the powerhouse it once was, losing countless  
jobs and dollars to Toyota and others. Chairman John Dingell (D-MI), a  
hometown Detroit boy, is often referred to as the dean of the House,  
mainly because of his career as a House member for over fifty years.
He just won his 27th term and is currently the longest-serving member  
of the House. He has sworn to defend his automaker constituents, which  
does seem admirable. However, one of the ways he plans to breathe new  
life into the Big Three automakers is on the backs of the American  
consumer and the rights of the automobile owner. Last Congress,  
Dingell was one of the most outspoken opponents of the Right To Repair  
Act. He routinely tried his best to torpedo it in committee and was  
often persuasive enough to win the support of his Democrat allies. Now  
they are running the committee with Dingell at the wheel, so don't  
expect to see any movement on the Right to Repair Act this year, which  
was HR
2048 in the 109th Congress, or any protection for smaller independent  
repair shops that are struggling to exist alongside a massive  
dealership network.


Jeff Hennie


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(c)All Information contained in this release is copyrighted.
Reproduction permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders  
Foundation, incorporated in 1987, is a membership-based, national  
motorcyclists' rights organization headquartered in Washington, DC.
The first motorcyclists'
rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington,  
DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice  
devoted exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in  
the early 1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would  
champion the cause of rider safety and rider freedom.

The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and  
the very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its  
leading members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation  
and regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public  
awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights  
organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual  
regional and national educational seminars for motorcyclists rights  
activists, as well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF  
REPORTS.