UTC receives "F" for athlete medical policy

UTC recently received an F grade from the National College Players Association (NCPA) for refusing to disclose their medical policy form.The NCPA launched a campaign to provide recruits, college athletes and parents with information regarding the medical protections at each Division I university.

The NCPA was started by University of California, Los Angeles football players, in 2001, as an advocacy group for college athletes.

According to NCPA president and founder Ramogi Huma, many schools are not required to pay for any sports-related medical expenses.

In an effort to correct this, the NCPA asked all Division I universities to disclose key medical policies that affect a student-athlete. The NCPA graded the policies A+ through F and any school that did not disclose their information automatically received an F.

Huma said the NCPA is concerned that coaches are making promises to young athletes, without ensuring a full understanding of their medical protections.

When asked for his opinion on UTC, Huma responded "nothing negative, nothing positive."

But he said it is important for athletic directors to realize that student-athletes need to know this information and that health care coverage is a huge factor in determining a college.

Huma said most of the athletic programs that did respond received very good grades and he thinks highly of the athletic administrations willing to be accountable for their policies.

However, UTC is not alone in refusing to disclose their information.

About 90 percent of all Division I athletic programs did not submit their medical policies to the NCPA.

"Some schools even told us they would receive a bad grade and didn't want to respond," said Huma. "That's a pretty disturbing revelation from the campaign."

Huma said it "was not a coincidence or accident" that some schools did not submit.

"Schools really don't want to expose their medical policies," he said. "Once it goes into writing, it makes it public and schools don't want to be held accountable."

According to Huma, the result from the campaign means most Division I athletic programs do not want recruits and college athletes to know their policies on medical coverage.

The campaign also found that many medical policies posted on university Web sites do not address key medical issues. For instance, they do not cover how long a university will cover sports-related medical expenses for student-athletes past their eligibility.

Huma said a main deduction of the universities was many of them did not cover players past a year after thier eligibility expired.

And there is evidence, according to Huma, that universities are changing their policies to avoid paying for sports-related injuries or medical expenses that take place in university-facilitated voluntary workouts.

However, the campaign found that universities with small athletic budgets were able to provide student-athletes wtih A+ medical coverage.

Universities that received an A+ include Bowling Green State University, Chicago State University, Creighton University, North Carolina A&T State University, San Jose State University, U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, University of Denver, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of South Alabama and Valparaiso University.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association did not endorse the NCPA campaign and according to Huma, the NCAA are resistant to participating in a system that allows recruits and athletes to compare policies of different universities.