The most important thing you'll do today

July 27, 4:42 PMMotorcycle ExaminerKen Bingenheimer

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So you're on your motorcycle, you're cruising within the speed limit, you're wearing all the legally required gear, and you and your bike are licensed. Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, you're creamed by someone in a car, who careens into a tree after sending you flying. Both of you are hurt pretty badly, although for obvious reasons your injuries are worse than his.

Bad news, but at least you've got good insurance.

Or do you?

When it all gets sorted out you find that the driver who hit you was drunk, driving with a revoked license due to previous DUI convictions, and has no insurance on the vehicle. But his health insurance covers his injuries. You, however, are informed that your injuries will not be covered by your insurance company because they occurred while you were riding a motorcycle.

What??!!! Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world we live in.

Under current law this could happen to you. It has already happened to some people. Back in the 1990s a number of insurance companies started issuing policies that exempted them from paying benefits to people engaged in legal but risky (by their definition) activities such as motorcycling, snowmobiling, scuba diving, and various other such things. When this practice became known the outcry was such that Congress included wording in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 that forbade this sort of discrimination. Problem solved, right?

Wrong. Welcome, along with Alice, to the other side of the looking glass. Congress only passes laws. It is then up to the appropriate agency or department to write the rules that spell out how the legislation will be enacted. In this case, the Department of Health and Human Services turned the legislation on its ear, writing rules that said you cannot be denied coverage for engaging in legal activities, but that you CAN be denied benefits if you are injured while engaging in those same legal activities.

Thus, you, who were totally legal in every way, can be denied coverage for your injuries but the schmoe who hit you, who was illegal in every way, still gets his injuries covered. Can you say "outrage"? I'm pretty sure you can. And you should.

In fact, you should say it extremely loudly, and you should say it to your U.S. senators and congressman. And you should say it right now because at this moment Senate Bill 616 and House Bill 1076 are under consideration and they are intended to rectify this absurd situation. Called the HIPAA Recreational Injury Technical Correction Act, this law would prevent health insurance discrimination against citizens who take part in legal, recreational activities such as motorcycle riding and snowmobiling. This law needs to pass.

The American Motorcyclist Association has made it easy for you to contact your representatives in Washington. Go to this page on their website and you can enter your zip code to have a letter sent to all of your people in D.C. A form letter will come up for you to sign and revise in any way you desire, and then you click and send it.

This is important. In fact, this is the most important thing you'll do today. Do it now.