Governor Pat Quinn signed the “Rocky Clark” Catastrophic Insurance legislation bill (SB2178) into law Aug. 4, requiring every high school in Illinois to obtain catastrophic accidental medical insurance for its student athletes.
The insurance policies must be for a minimum of $3 million and five years, whichever occurs first. The legislation also requires the Illinois High School Association to offer a group plan for its member schools, although schools are not required to use the IHSA plan.
The Collinsville Unit 10 School District will pay $5,338 this year to comply with the new law. Collinsville’s policy, obtained through Mississippi Valley Intergovernmental Cooperative (MissVIC), is for $5 million, with a lifetime benefit, MissVIC Executive Director Ken Beerup said. The district’s estimated total budget for the year is about $67 million.
Although the impact of this law is minimal, the cost of many laws with minimal impact adds up, Superintendent Bob Green said. “I think it’s probably a good thing, in the scheme of things, but again, it’s an unfunded mandate,” Green said. “There are a lot of good things that come along and, unfortunately, the costs build up over time.”
School Board President Gary Peccola called the law a good thing and said he was surprised at how little the additional insurance coverage costs. However, it was another factor that contributed to athletic fees in the district being raised to $50 per sport compared with $20 last year, Peccola said.
“Unfortunately it is an unfunded mandate,” Peccola said. “It’s one of those things that the state passes a law and passes the cost to the individual districts.”
The new requirement comes at a time when school districts are not receiving the full funding promised to them. The State of Illinois shorted the Collinsville school district $2 million last year and will do the same this year, Peccola said.
The law was named for Rasul “Rocky” Clark, who was paralyzed from the neck down from injuries sustained while playing in a football game for Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Ill., in 2000. When that school district’s insurance plan was exhausted in 2010, it informed Clark that it could no longer afford his medical bills. Clark died in 2012.
The IHSA has and will continue to provide catastrophic insurance for all student-athletes competing in IHSA postseason State Series events, the IHSA said. Prior to the new law, catastrophic insurance coverage during regular-season events for student-athletes was dependent upon the high school or individual families.
