How Intercollegiate Sports Insurance Can Have An Unexpected ROI

If you have higher education clients, you know schools have a unique mix of responsibilities: watching out for students’ health and welfare, taking care of the institution’s grounds and premises, and essentially running a business with all that it entails.

Their budgets are big, and controlling expenses is a constant balancing act. At least sports can be counted on to bring the profit, right? Not always. Instead of being a huge revenue generator, intercollegiate sports often do just the opposite. In 2019, only 25 of 1,100 schools across 102 conferences in the NCAA made money on college sports.

Controlling expenses with such a narrow margin is important. However, while your higher education clients recognize how insurance can help protect many of their risks, they may not quite understand how accident insurance is one of those solutions. In fact, providing accident insurance for their student-athletes can have an impact on school finances that goes well beyond medical costs, recovery, and performance.

Protect your Higher Education Clients with Intercollegiate Sports Insurance

In the wake of several national news stories about the physical and financial repercussions of student-athlete injuries, sports insurance for college student-athletes is gaining momentum across higher education. The NCAA now requires student-athletes to carry private insurance before they are eligible to play. That way, if injuries occur, medical costs can be covered, at least partially.

Partially is the key word here because there are plenty of co-payments, deductibles, and other outpatient costs that are probably not covered by personal health insurance. These can be modest amounts or run to many tens of thousands of dollars depending on the severity of the injury and treatment needs. So while the NCAA will step in with catastrophic coverage when a $90,000 medical deductible is paid, devastation can occur long before that figure is met.

Student-athletes need something to fill that large financial gap. It has long been felt that institutions should be as proactive at protecting the student-athletes in their care as they were when wooing standout highschool players. Many people believe insurance should be part of the schools’ cost of having an athletic program, and the very least, the athletes deserve for their participation in sports and their role in building the school’s publicity and reputation. That’s where sports accident insurance can help.

A-G Administrators’ Chief Operating Officer, James Shipp, explains. “Offering sports accident insurance is one of the easiest and most effective ways for the school to provide a real service to student-athletes and their families. It also shows a commitment that is more than just recruiting talk and promises.”

Intercollegiate sports accident insurance is quite simple to explain. It helps cover the deductibles, co-pays, and other out-of-pocket expenses left by personal insurance when a student-athlete is injured. This gap could be quite large when you consider it may include medical expenses such as:

• Hospital bills (including semi-private room and board)
• Intensive care room and board charges
• Medical or surgical treatment by a licensed doctor, including anesthesia, X-rays, and laboratory tests
• Outpatient charges for emergency room treatments
• Physiotherapy treatment during a hospital stay or on an outpatient basis

Ambulances can even be covered, which means teams don’t have to worry about getting injured athletes to medical help fast.

How sports accident insurance helps:

It can help in both tangible and intangible ways. Having access to the benefits of A-G’s coverage can help families relax knowing physical recovery isn’t compromised by financial burdens. Plus, A-G:

• Makes it easier to coordinate necessary care and treatment plans
• Handles the claims paperwork so that the athletic department staff can get back to coaching and training
• Provides critical insights into medical risk management that can make a real difference to player safety and recovery

What sports accident insurance costs:

While the cost of not having accident insurance could be terrible to injured student-athletes and their families, your higher education clients also have other costs to consider.

Schools without coverage could face:

• Litigation or liability insurance claims
• Negative publicity over treatment of injured student-athletes
• Enrollment and recruitment challenges: some states are enacting legislation to provide recruits with information about what medical expenses are covered. And a popular college search site is also urging recruits to ask for this information before making any decisions.

These threats could make deep cuts not just into college athletic budgets but into the entire school operation. But while a student-athlete accident plan can lessen these concerns, what does a student-athlete accident plan actually cost? Is it worth the expense?

A-G Intercollegiate Sports Accident Insurance: a History of Excellence

At A-G Administrators, we’ve been covering college and university sports programs for nearly 40 years. We’re continually advancing our technology to provide you and your higher education clients with the best possible savings and service. Along with the calculator, clients benefit from EGBAR, our industry-leading claims management system that makes claims handling almost completely pain-free.

It’s our history and experience that make the difference when it comes to sports accident insurance and protecting vulnerable student-athletes, their families, and their schools from the many high costs of accidents. Visit agadministrators.com to learn more about how we can partner with you to help serve your clients. Or, start here to get a quote.