College Injury - Who's Dime

At my son's major DI program, health care was exceptional and no cost beyond whatever the student plan required. All athletes received the same standard of care.

 

Based on conversations and observations over the years, I think the same can be said for other major DI's. 

My son is at a D3, and broke his finger last year and it was 100% covered by the school insurance. You should look at the school policy when your son enrolls so you know what the plan specifies. 

 

Be aware there are limitations with these policies for very serious injuries such as, God forbid, what happened to Cory Hahn at Ariz State a few years ago, you will run out of coverage very fast.

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/...5-column.html#page=1

 

There was a period of time that my son was under the college program and it had a maximum coverage of around $150K, so while he was under their program I purchased a high deductible plan as secondary coverage that went up to $7,5M. It was very reasonable and I think it did not kick in until there was $7,500 of costs out of pocket. 

 

All of this has changed under the affordable care act so you should make sure that you have adequate coverage in case of a severe injury.  

 

HBO Real Sports did a segment on this either last month or the month before. Very interesting. Check out HBO.com if you have access. 

Do you remember specifics?

This is a good question to ask during recruitment.  

As BOF mentions things have changed because of the affordable care act, so do your homework.  

Mid major D1

Team insurance is secondary insurance.  $250 deductable.  Submit claims to primary insurance (our family plan) to pay first then to the school team insurance to pay balance.  One year limit per onset of injury. 

 

This is how our youth travel team insurance worked as well. 

I watched the program. Mainly about severly injured players. 
Very interesting. These guys get hurt  and taken care of while  at school. Then they left with  injuries and no one to pay the bills.
Watch it.

The college will gladly help your insurance company pay for injuries. (Beware when it turns out the doc, or a test, or the guy that reads the MRI, wasn't actually 'in-network' - tough luck for you)

 

They get prickly and start talking legalese when it's their dime for more than minor injuries.

 

Be careful on definitions of 'pre-existing', and for out-of-state coverage (parent in one state, player injured in another).

Lefthooks surgery was covered by our family primary care.  All rehab is billed directly to the school and paid for through the School Incurance

My son required surgery and several months of rehab and was allowed to come home for summer to rehab with a pt with specific instructions. Not a dime came out of our pockets not even for  medicines. 

He had top notch surgeon and I am so glad he was where he was when this happened.

There is no pre existing. If your son goes out of state and covered by your insurance,  student insurance might be a better option.
I think what the OP was asking was specifically about injury. As you can see there are different outcomes based on all different programs .
Just ask during recruiting. If you feel funny about asking the coaches contact the schools training department.

TPM - Thanks for helping clarify my question.  I must admit I am not looking for individual situations, but rather was trying to get a feel for how the "average" program works.  From the replies so far, there does not seem to be any "normal" or "standardized" program.  As pointed out by several, it appears that the best approach is to aks each insitituion directly (so much for trying to get educated ahead of time). 

 

Thanks for all the insights (out-of-state, out-of-network, submitting insurance cvoerage to the institution, etc.) and please continue to add as appropriate.  Certainly not hoping anyone gets injured but I think this is a good discussion as it relates to choosing a school (or even skipping school for draft - Brady Aiken comes to mind).

When did your elbow injury happen?  When did your shoulder injury happen?  Etc.  I can tell you that they will claim 'pre-existing' when the bills start to rack up.  Beware folks.

 

Any discussions that you have about insurance and medical coverage by the school must be received in writing, or its worthless.

Regarding HBO- the reason NCAA coined the term Student-Athlete was essentially so they would not have to pay worker's comp. A lot of stuff about players (mainly football and hoops) injured and then abandoned by institution. 

You are welcome.

Hopefully and I am sure Aikens family can afford the rehab that will be necessary, however I wouldnt be shocked if he got picked up by a team willing to rehab him in a later round. Would be mind boggling if he turned down that option. 

Injuries happen.  Some injuries happen over time.  Your son will be asked to provide information on his questionares he answers during recruiting. Provide all information truthfully and you wont have issues when something occurs.  

Who will pay may be another.

Again, always ask for the programs protol.

 

I think there is a very good chance Aiken will be a top 50 pick. I would almost bet on it.

The way that many of these insurances work is that they are "injury event" specific. In other words, there has to be a specific incident that caused an injury. "Elbow pain" may not be acceptable to expect this insurance policy to kick in, but if you say that "elbow popped throwing a pitch" then the insurance will kick in. Also, many policies are "secondary" in nature where your primary health insurance is going to pay out first. Whatever it doesn't pay, then the school's secondary policy will come into play. NCAA rules can also restrict when the school's insurance is allowed to be utilized. If you sprain your ankle in batting practice, that'd be covered most likely. If you sprain your ankle in the rec center playing basketball, the school's insurance probably won't be an option. 

 

Most NCAA schools also have medical staffs on campus that can be seen without insurance paperwork. The Athletic Training department is a good place to start with any type of injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, the Athletic Trainers can often treat injuries in-house. When I was in college, I recall very few of our athletes going to outside PT and in many cases they only did because the doctor wanted a specific treatment that our Athletic Training Room did not have. 

JUCO perspective. It is on the parents insurance and they have secondary to cover anything else. Over 500 that is.

My son played at a JUCO in Alabama . In 2013 he broke his pitching hand on a comebacker, the college paid for everything, Sent him to Andrews clinic in Pensacola, doctor set bone, a soft cast, and therapy. We were not billed on anything. Guess it depends on school.

Son got hurt at Juco in Kansas.  They took him to doctor for visit, xrays, etc.  Had him take our insurance and they had their info also.  They told me and son; that whatever our insurance doesn't cover, they will have their insurance take care.  Dr understood and no charge for son at time of visit for anything also.