Athletic injuries: who pays after graduation? by Gabriel Kramer and Megan Shaw
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by Gabriel Kramer and Megan Shaw Louisville guard Kevin Ware doesn’t have to worry about medical bills now. What his insurance doesn’t cover the university’s will. But what if his nationally televised broken leg doesn’t heal the way it should, what if Ware has persistent problems and medical costs after graduation?
The University of Louisville has not yet responded to our questions, but one person who did is Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association . He says universities need to be far more transparent about who is going to pay for athletic injuries requiring hospitalization. Huma says the current system can lead to some huge medical bill surprises .
“Many of the coaches who are recruiting the players,” says Huma, “are promising the players that if they are injured, the university will take care of it, but in reality the university is not obligated to pay one penny for any sports related injury.”
Confusion about who pays is understandable. In a
USA Today article posted earlier this week, NCAA spokesperson, Stacey Osburn, was quoted saying, “Student-athletes must have insurance covering athletic-related injuries to practice and compete, per rules adopted by NCAA institutions – and in most cases colleges and universities provide that coverage.”
In most cases the university provides that coverage? Osburn’s statement is inconsistent not only with information provided by the National College Players Association but also with the findings of a student reporting project at Kent State University.
Student journalists checked with every university in the Mid-American Conference and several Big 10 universities and asked a simple question: who pays for medical treatment for athletic injuries requiring hospitalization? The answer at university after university: the student’s insurance.
Most universities do provide secondary coverage; some don’t even do that. Despite increased awareness of athletic concussions, their severity and the cost of treatment, medical expenses don’t seem to be a topic of much discussion when university recruiters try to entice high school athletes to come to their school. Kent State student reporters found no university in the Mid American Conference that has any sort of formal disclosure policy regarding medical costs. That doesn’t surprise Ramogi Huma.
Says Huma, “I guarantee you, there will be no coach in the nation that’s going to recruit a player and say we’re going to stick you with the medical bill if you get injured.”
We’ve asked the NCAA to provide data that supports its assertion that it’s the university not the student that usually pays for medical expenses but have not yet received a response. This story will be updated as we receive that information. ###
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