Truck drivers with properly controlled insulin-treated diabetes will no longer be required to obtain an exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Administration thanks to a revision of the current federal regulations.
The change in rules was announced Tuesday, September 18th and will go into effect on November 19th of this year.
Commercial drivers with properly controlled diabetes will now be able to obtain a Medical Examiner’s Certificate and keep it for up to 12 months by allowing their personal doctor (the one who manages the driver’s diabetes) to fill out the Insulin-Treated Diabetes Mellitus Assessment Form indicating that the driver keeps up with a stable insulin regimen and maintains proper control of their condition. The form would then be turned in to the Medical Examiner, who decides if they agree with the driver’s doctor, and the truck driver would be given the all-clear to cross state lines in their commercial vehicle.
The FMCSA says that this change in procedure “will eliminate the exemption program that currently requires individuals with ITDM to incur recurring costs to renew and maintain their exemptions. FMCSA estimates this will save the nearly 5,000 individuals with ITDM that currently have exemptions more than $5 million per year more than what they would endure under the exemption program. The final rule will also save new ITDM exemption applicants and their associated motor carriers approximately $215,000 annually in opportunity and compliance costs related with the exemption program’s waiting period.”
The FMCSA itself is also expected to save $1 million per year now that it will no longer be administering the diabetes exemption program.
“This final action delivers economic savings to affected drivers and our agency, and streamlines processes by eliminating unnecessary regulatory burdens and redundancy,” said FMCSA Administrator Raymond P. Martinez.
“It’s a win-win for all parties involved.”
