# What type of insurance do college athletes use? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792 "2008-09-16T03:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/1 "2008-09-16T03:38:42Z")
Playing NCAA football brings a risk of serious injury. Who pays if these kids get injured? Do the players have to rely on their own health insurance? Is there a university insurance that athletes use? When I was in college, I was on my family health insurance. However, I wasn’t playing quarterback for an NCAA school. The risk of insuring 19 year old \*\*dalej42 \*\*walking from class to class is obviously a lot lower than someone playing football. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/2 "2008-09-16T03:48:53Z")
If they’re playing for UCLA, they either the very excellent insurance provided by the university (SHIP), with everything that entails, or they waive SHIP and use their parents (some form of health insurance is required by the university to register and maintain enrollment). It is trivial for an orthopedic surgeon at the outpatient clinic to write a referral to a sports medicine specialist at the medical center. I know it’s similar throughout the UC system and I assume other state systems have similar programs. Could be the athletes have even better service, which wouldn’t surprise me. As far as private schools go, hell if I know. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/3 "2008-09-16T03:53:12Z")
I saw an ad in the school paper the other day for walk on tryouts for the basketball team here at OSU. It said you needed to have your own insurance that covered sports injuries. Don’t know if making the team or being on scholarship gets you coverage from the university or not. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/4 "2008-09-16T04:06:42Z")
Ohio State? Oklahoma State? Oregon State? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/5 "2008-09-16T19:28:42Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Ohio State? > Oklahoma State? > Oregon State? Read his location. It is Obama State University. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/6 "2008-09-18T00:34:43Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Read his location. It is Obama State University. Okay ,I lol’ed. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/7 "2008-09-18T17:39:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Ohio State? > Oklahoma State? > Oregon State? My bad - Travis Ford’s OSU. I reserve the right to make you google. 🙂 I laughed too ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-type-of-insurance-do-college-athletes-use/463792/8 "2008-09-18T19:20:45Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Read his location. It is Obama State University. That whittles it down from about 4,200 universities to an even 4,000.