Aug 7, 2018IHSAA To Offer Insurance
The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced that it has a new concussion insurance program with the Iowa Farm Bureau, the HeadStrong Insurance program.
According to the Des Moines Register, the program will begin in the 2018-19 school year, and will cover all athletes who play and practice IHSAA-sanctioned sports. It has a $0 deductible and co-pay coverage, and serves as a secondary policy, or as the primary policy for athletes with no other options.
Alan Beste, Executive Director of the IHSAA, issued a release saying that he believed “this insurance puts Iowa at the forefront of providing quality care for student-athletes who sustain a concussion” in one of the state’s sanctioned sports.
“We hope this insurance removes the financial barrier students and their parents or guardians may have when it comes to seeking care for a concussion,” Beste wrote in the release.
Last year, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association offered its student-athletes a similar program for insurance.
Derek Summy, head football coach at Des Moines Lincoln, said “This will be a positive for our kids,” and a way of helping make football safer.
“We always tell our parents that football is as safe as it’s ever been,” he said. “This will only help us be safer.”