WHAT IS SPORTS INJURY INSURANCE?
People of all ages and sizes participate in sports, rather that be recreational or professional. Injuries are bound to happen with any sport an athlete plays. Sports injury insurance was designed to minimize a person’s liability while playing a sport. Sports injury insurance can be purchased by the individual, an organization, or a venue operator. In most cases the organization purchases these insurance policies. These policies can cover anything from a sports injury to lawsuits against a team. Most sports injury insurance policies are purchased by sports teams or sports associations. The policies are most often purchased by universities and professional teams. Like most insurance policies there is a cap to how much coverage you can receive. They don’t cover the following:
Recklessness
Being under the influence
Injuries caused by failure to wear proper protective gear
The biggest concern of sports injury insurance is protecting against potential lawsuits. If a spectator is injured while watching a game and then attempts to sue the team, the insurance company can cover the costs of settling or defending the claim in court. Another thing that is excluded in many insurance companies are pre-existing conditions. This includes body parts that put an athlete at a higher risk of injury due to recurring injury or playing style.
HOW PROFESSIONAL TEAMS UTILIZE INJURY INSURANCE
Under the Obamacare act it is required by law that all employers cover their employees with insurance. You can think of the Florida Panthers as the employers and the players as the employees. One thing I found interesting is that insurance companies for sports cannot get a grasp on prior conditions or injuries. This is because of the constant switching of teams and adding new members it is hard to constantly alter the team’s insurance policy. It would be ridiculous to constantly alter the insurance policy. They would have to do this at least 10 times a year. You would think that insurance for a whole entire team is expensive, but it really isn’t. When you compare the injuries of athletes like concussions and knee injuries to a common person’s health care like treating cancer it is nowhere as expensive.
FLORIDA PANTHERS INSURANCE
The Florida Panthers recently switched to Baptist Health insurance for their players. Baptist Health is going to be their official orthopedic, sports medicine, and virtual care provider. With Baptist Health having 11 hospitals, nearly 23,000 employees, more than 4,000 physician practices spanning from Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, and Palm beach counties. Plenty of options to send players to if they get hurt. Miami Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Institute offers physical and cognitive evaluation to rehabilitation and surgical reconstruction. They are also the provider for the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Florida International University, Orange Bowl, and of course the Florida Panthers.
RECENT FLORIDA PANTHER NEWS
Aaron Rkblad hurt again! Only three games into the 2022-2023 season, defensive star finds himself hurt yet again. After playing the Boston Bruins on Monday, Aaron was injured in his lower body. This is his third lower body injury in the past 19 months. They suspect that this injury should not last the whole season, but time can only tell. After the doctors examined Aaron, they concluded it was not related to his knee/ankle injuries from the past. General manager Bill Zito said “Obviously, we are concerned about him as a person first. But he will be back. It is not a season-ending thing. We have every reason to believe he will be back and 100%, this is just something that happens in the normal course”. Claims say that Aaron is the most mentally strong and a resilient person they know and that he will get through this injury and be back on the ice as soon as possible.
WHAT DOES AARON BKBLAD’S INSURANCE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR HIM?
Being injured is part of the game but being repeatedly injured in the same region can take a hit on Aaron Bkblad’s insurance. It is required for all professional teams to have top notch insurance but there are some exceptions on how much it will cover. Considering Mr. Bkblad has been injured in the same region three times now the insurance company can decide to lower the amount that they cover for him. This is actually a common practice with insurance companies for sports injuries. Professional athletes can get additional insurance on their own to insure their protection in case of repetitive injuries. We talked about previously how insurance companies can deny people who have a specific playing style that led to repetitive injury in the same place. This could be what happens to Mr. Bkblad if he keeps getting lower body injuries. Since Aaron’s injury is a physical injury caused by his career it should not cost the Florida Panthers insurance company to much money. But they should keep in the back of their mind that Aaron Bkblad is now injury prone and should be more careful on the ice.
