Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

All too often, it seems like our efforts fall on deaf ears up in Washington. It doesn’t take long to figure out we aren’t very effective lobbyists in our own interests. So, sometimes, we have to get a bit sneaky. As Sun Tzu said, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Truer words were never spoken. You have to figure out who is as upset as you are at those who are influencing the rules. I started thinking about that when I was helping out a friend on his sleep apnea fight with a major carrier. His doctor said he didn’t have any evidence of sleep apnea-his employer said he did. . .simply because he’s over 50 and over ideal weight. Now, I have no problem with a driver who actually HAS sleep apnea getting treatment, but I’ve known several who got tested again privately and DIDN’T have it-after the company said they did. (Most of them then left the carrier before they could be sucked into any more company-sponsored ‘medical interventions’).

When the Landline Radio Show disclosed that a member of the National Sleep Foundation was on the Medical Review Board and there might be some conflicts of interest, I started thinking about who fights conflicts of this sort. I found them-in the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It seems one of their pet peeves is how businesses get legislation passed that benefits them, using supposed science to do so. I found their website and, gathering up all of my web research I had done, sent them an email from their website.

Sure enough, a few days later, I got a call from them. They were appalled that the National Sleep Foundation, which is funded by CPAP makers, had infiltrated the FMCSA Medical Review Board and how they were trying to force this on all drivers, thus making a huge profit in sales while drivers got the shaft. They had no idea of how this could impact a driver’s career when I told them they were attempting to have this mandatory and how it would become a restriction on a driver’s CDL. It seems they were already concerned about this push to determine everybody in the world is fatigued and needs either medication or a machine to survive. So, I pointed out that the big sleep clinics that are touting this to the carriers aren’t even focusing on safety, but on the health insurance and liability insurance discounts they can get if they test all their drivers. One of the main sleep clinic firms actually brags that they are a member of the ATA and that CPAP treatment will save employers big bucks because it will prevent diabetes, heart disease and hypertension. Since less than 3% of all accidents are caused by fatigue, the safety factor is just being given play to use safety as a catchphrase to disguise what it is they REALLY want to accomplish: save insurance costs.

So, What Now?

The short story: they did some more research and featured it in their newsletter the next week-which is published in the form of a press release. Here’s a link to it here: http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/press/200809291.html . They had done some more digging and published the financial reports of the National Sleep Foundation where they have to disclose their funding as a non-profit: nearly ALL CPAP and pharmaceutical companies! (It’s in the links within the article). They also dug out the information that the clinic where all these ‘scientific studies’ are being done that say all these truck drivers have sleep apnea is ALSO being funded by them.. . .the ones that say the general populace has a 4% incidence of sleep apnea, but truck drivers have 28%? I also got a nice little quote out of it-which likely didn’t make me any friends in the industry, so good thing I’m not job hunting right now-I probably have a bull’s-eye on my back!

Anyway, now that I had something in print from a well-respected foundation, I made sure and sent the press release to OOIDA. You never know if they will catch something like this. I got an email back saying Jim Johnston was made aware of this and the press release was faxed to their people in Washington who deal with legislative issues. So, we now have the opposing side represented at the table. I fully intend to fax it to all the members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to make sure they have alternate information on it also. . .FMCSA wont slip this one past without a fight!

Not My Problem?

Now, there are a lot of drivers who think this sleep apnea thing isn’t a big deal. Their carriers aren’t involved in this push-yet. But, if it becomes law, we’ll all be facing it. If it’s codified into the regs, owner-operators will be facing a HUGE expense, and many of them don’t have any insurance. There are some serious issues in how this is being carried out among the carriers who are doing it-issues of privacy and HIPAA and practicing medicine without a license. I personally have no urge to let my carrier have any more control over my body than they already have with their managed care self-insurance systems and the fact they can get away with violating ERISA regulations simply because there is no oversight. Personally, if I pass my DOT physical, my weight and what legal medications I take, as well as my family’s health history is none of their damned business. I would hope most drivers feel the same.

So, if you have a pet issue, start doing research on the web and find scholarly papers to refute it. Start emailing your information to groups that fight corruption-as that’s what it truly is-and make sure the word gets out. You CAN make a difference!