If Ware has to pay one cent- one cent- of his medical bills, he should sue the NCAA into oblivion.
and/or Louisville. If it was a nagging situation the school still cleared him for competition. My assumption is if an athlete is on scholarship, the school takes responsibility for medical expenses incurred as a result of that activity. Maybe Borna can clarify with respect to Tommy. If that is not the case, I would be willing to bet the vast majority of athletes from means below those on this board are greatly under insured.
We had to provide proof of insurance to the school and athletic department each year. I often asked what happens to those kids who do not have insurance.,,,,, no one ever said anything or had an answer. As a small business owner my deductible is $6250 so every CAT scan MRI, radiograph, ER visit etc went over to the deductible and got paid out of pocket. Athletic department did not ever offer up any coverage or help. I am not sure if there is an NCAA rule that governs that end of the billing process...
When Tommy tore his bicep muscle in open gym Groce took him to a good friend in COls for consultation....I do not think I ever got a bill. For most everything else I got statements from O Blenness, Radiology, ER etc.......
When I took care of the Ball State kids I spent Tuedsay nights and Sat mornings in the training room. I never charged the university or the kids a dime for the consultations and took whatever insurance, if there was any, paid on the surgeries I performed.. I volunteered my time, threw in a lot of supplies and covered a lot of games on top of the time in the training room. I loved every minute and learned a ton in addition to being able to push the envelope with cutting edge ideas and consort with Ball Human Performance lab and the Biomechanics lab. Unfortunately, a large Orthopedic concern bought the rights to treat the athletes and asked the AD to clear all of us who had volunteered our time and skills out of the Training Room and Lecture halls where we were participating in training ATC s......and now it is commonly know that they do charge for everything seeing it as a revenue stream to recoup their sponsorship dolllars.....unfortunately they do not really care much about pushing the envelope or advancing the standard of care. Their injury pic, has been pretty entertaining to watch since that really engaged bunch of folks just interested in the athletes and advancing the how injuries and sports concerns were handled got tossed.
I have no knowledge of how OHIO or how most individual NCAA schools offer health care to athletes who do not have insurance or means to pay for care. I have a cadre of folks at other universities that I am still in contact with that are still joyously volunteering their services to a school and I have other friends who have to buy the exclusive rights to treat. SOme use it as a write off others use it as a revenue stream.....others just do it because it is fun and educational .