For many independent drivers, access to quality health care has disappeared along with company health insurance. As overhead costs soar for independent route drivers across the United States, they've begun to protect themselves by buying group liability and health insurance -- a sort of homemade HMO plan.

"Strength in Numbers," intones the melodic phone message for the Owner-Operator and Independent Driver Association (OOIDA), based in Grain Valley, Missouri. The group began with the sweat of silver-haired Jim Johnston, a former Iowa trucker and navy man on the ship that carried Elvis to Europe. Johnston created OOIDA 22 years ago to offer insurance and other services to truckers at fair rates.

Starting out in 1973 with just 200 truckers, the organization mushroomed to 160,000 paying members, ranging from big-rig drivers to laundry and food drivers. Many of the members carry one type or another of insurance through OOIDA, including the essential primary liability and cargo insurance every driver must carry, along with medical, hospitalization and accident insurance, and occupational accident insurance -- the virtual equivalent of workers' compensation -- that meets statutory limits.

"For independent truckers breaking away from a company, these services are really important," says OOIDA insurance representative Brenda Guffy. "The problem was that the guys would be out on the road and either couldn't get a hold of their agent or would be late with payment. This isn't a problem for homeowners like you or me who go home every night, but for these guys, it could mean losing a policy."

The association is also a political lobby for independent truckers, regularly exhorting members to write their congressional representatives on issues affecting them. OOIDA's web site includes tips for writing and emailing lawmakers and identifying movers and shakers on Capitol Hill.

OOIDA has also taken various states to court for excessive insurance requisites and taxes on drivers. When Alabama mandated that all drivers pay a "fuel marker" fee to purchase a decal from the state, OOIDA challenged and won. The truckers group also battled New Hampshire's "truck taxes," which were ruled unconstitutional.

-- Diana Reiss-Koncar is a freelance journalist based in Oakland, California. She has written for Hippocrates, the San Francisco Examiner, and Vibe, among other publications. OOIDA can be reached at www.ooida.com.

First published January 2, 2001
Last updated April 7, 2008
Copyright © 2000 Consumer Health Interactive