Illinois Gov Pat Quinn signed a bill into law last week that will require every high school in the state to carry catastrophic accident medical insurance for its student-athletes with $3,000,000 of coverage or a five-year benefit period, whichever is reached first, the Illinois High School Association announced.
“As the athletic/activity insurance partner of the Illinois High School Association, Dissinger Reed has reviewed numerous catastrophic plans to satisfy these minimum requirements, as well as plans that offer additional coverage and longer benefit periods. The IHSA and Dissinger Reed are pleased to offer these options through Mutual of Omaha,” the IHSA said in a release.
The Chicago Tribune estimated the coverage would cost public and private high schools about $5 per student per season. If an athlete sustains an accidental injury while participating in school-sponsored sports, families will be responsible for the first $50,000 in medical costs, and the school’s insurance policy will cover the rest, up to the limits.
Called “Rocky’s Law,” the bill was named after Rasul “Rocky” Clark, a running back for Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, who suffered a spinal cord injury during a football game in 2000 and died in 2012, after his family’s insurance policy ran out of money.
“Rocky Clark was a fighter, and this new law—Rocky’s Law—is a tribute to him and all the years he fought to protect young athletes across our state,” the governor said in a statement. “Rocky is an inspiration to us all and he wanted to ensure other students are educated about playing it safe on the field. I am honored to sign this bill, which should provide more comfort to sports families across Illinois.”
Other catastrophic injuries by high school athletes have been covered in the media, including this one to quarterback Diondre Preston on E:60’s program entitled “Busted Coverage.” Two years ago, he was the starting quarterback at a Dallas high school and receiving about 30 recruiting letters a week from Division I colleges. In one play at his homecoming game, he took a helmet-to-helmet hit in a tackle that fractured two vertebrae and left him paralyzed from the neck down. ESPN’s report got some credit for helping to pass Rocky’s Law in Illinois, according to E:60’s Facebook page. The average medical expenses in the first year for a person who sustains a spinal cord injury come to $1,023,924, ESPN reported.
Rocky’s mother, Annette Clark, spoke at the end of the ceremony, according to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times. She said the new law gives her comfort, knowing that it is what her son wanted.
“With this, I know Rocky is smiling, I know he’s smiling,” the Sun-Times quoted her as saying. “With this, I know Rocky is smiling, I know he’s smiling. … He’s running now, he’s running now. … There’s no more pain, there’s no more sorrow.”
The law, known formally as SB 2178, takes effect Jan 1, the Bloomington Pantagraph reported, by which date all schools must carry the catastrophic injury insurance for their student-athletes.
“These injuries are rare, but when they happen, it’s devastating for young athletes and their families,” state Sen Napoleon Harris, a Harvey Democrat and former NFL player who sponsored the bill, said in a statement. “These students’ lives are dramatically changed in cases of catastrophic injuries, and they deserve access to health care coverage.”
The website medicaldaily.com quoted Warren Zola, a sports law professor at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, as saying that the Illinois mandate is part of a “growing trend where the rights of athletes are being considered at a far greater level than they ever were for what is clearly a violent activity.”
Participation figures in football, where most catastrophic injuries occur, indicate that about 50,000 Illinois students play football at school, and about a million students participate nationwide. One out of every 100,000, approximately, suffers a spinal cord injury while playing.
Some school officials see the law as “another unfunded mandate” from the state, though. They wonder what effect the mandate may have on athletic participation fees.
“It’s another unfunded mandate,” the Journal-Gazette quoted Arthur-Lovington Superintendent Travis Wilson as saying. The district already pays about $23 per student for catastrophic injury insurance. And it covers all students, not just the athletes.
“Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with it,” he added. “We haven’t instituted player fees but I know a lot of others have. Now will those go up? We have talked about it but we appreciate that we haven’t had to institute it. You sure wouldn’t want a kid to not participate because their parents can’t afford it.”
