One of the big issues that is used as a justification for the fatigue checklist and other efforts is the presence of sleep apnea.

Even the FMCSA’s medical review board is obsessing on this topic, proposing that up to half of all truckers be compelled to pull thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for apnea testing, even absent any prior statement by a doctor that those individuals might have the illness.

Far too many people have bought into the sleep apnea argument without thinking, without questioning, without evidence.

And why is that.

Well, you want to find out what’s really driving something, you follow the money. That’s what trucker Warren Riley suggested when he called recently, and as far as I’m concerned, he hit it on the head when he mentioned the money trail.

First, Land Line Magazine staff writer Charlie Morasch has documented connections between members of the medical review board and companies that profit off apnea testing and equipment.

In addition, Melissa Theriault Rohan, who works in OOIDA’s Washington, DC, office, has attended most of the medical review board’s meetings.

Melissa says every time a trucker testifies, hordes of vendors – people who supply apnea equipment and testing – gather around that trucker, asking them to endorse their product.

This has become a feeding frenzy, a process controlled by people who have a direct financial stake in making truckers, no matter what the cost in personal, medical or financial terms, be tested for this illness.

When people talk about our medical system in America, they often talk about cost control, that the cost of medical care is far too high in comparison with other countries.

And one of the areas that’s identified as a significant part of the problem is the cost of unnecessary medical tests.

Well guess what, folks? What do you think they’re proposing here?

They want hundreds of thousands of truckers to undergo a medical test, a test costing up to $10,000 a shot, a test not called for after a careful medical examination, but instead a test based on arbitrary and inaccurate figures.

They want to do this to a profession where double the number of people lack insurance compared with the general population.

They want to do this in the name of safety, despite the lack of any scientific evidence whatsoever linking this illness to safety.

They want to do this even though the portion of the trucking population most likely to be tested are in fact statistically the safest drivers.

Want to know why the cost of medical care is so high in this country? Look no further than crap like this.