If your child is injured at school, does the school pay the medical bills?

[lori123]

My son was injured in gym class at school today. He got kicked in the hand and cannot move his thumb. Right now we are at the "ice and it and see what happens" stage, but he may end up in the ER for an x-ray. Does anyone know if the school will pay for the medical bills since it happened during the school day, or does our insurance pay for it?

When my son broke his arm at school we and our insurance paid for it. It was an accident - just a kid being a kid Sorry your son was injured!

 

[Vijoge]

Our school district also offers an inexpensive accident policy that covers the kids both in and out of school for the school year.

 

[richmond282]

I know in our district, they offer a supplemental medical policy at the beginning of the school year to cover accidents in school if you want it; otherwise, you use your own insurance.

This!

 

[phred52]

Way back when I was in high school I bought the school lunch. There was a piece of metal in a french fry... I chomped down, had terrible pain.... ....I spit the bloody mouthful, including a broken tooth, into a napkin then ran to the nurse. Soon the principal wandered down to witness the stuff in the napkin. Long story short, the school's insurance paid for the dentist and new tooth.
It was awkard for my Mom as she also taught in the school system as this was going down.

 

[DisneyMom2008]

My son was injured in wrestling practice which was at another school in the district. I have my own insurance and was not expecting them to pay. The hospital is the one who suggested calling the school to find out if they cover any of the expenses. I called and they said to submit to my insurance first and whatever is not covered they would pay. This helped because his bills are still coming in and are well over $10,000. He is still in therapy 3 days a week and it is $366 every visit. I guess it depends on the school district.

 

[a1tinkfans]

My son was injured in gym class at school today. He got kicked in the hand and cannot move his thumb. Right now we are at the "ice and it and see what happens" stage, but he may end up in the ER for an x-ray. Does anyone know if the school will pay for the medical bills since it happened during the school day, or does our insurance pay for it?

Yes, contact the admin dept, explain that child was hurt during gym, etc. they will send you forms and will pay direct or reimburse you. Sorry child got hurt, hope it works out. Meanwhile, if the swelling does not go down, have an XRAY, breaks in kids, even slight can be worrisome in the future You should also document the situation for the school regardless....

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Just because there may be ice located on school grounds doesn't mean the school was negligent. If your daughter didn't see the ice how would anyone else be expected to?

Negligence comes into play when a property owner becomes aware of a dangerous condition and takes no action within a reasonable time period to correct the dangerous condition. Ice can form and melt quickly. Conditions can change rapidly in high traffic areas, too.

As I'm reading this and see the word negligence, since my daughter slipped on ice outside the gym door after a school basketball game, the school might have paid for the ER copay?

 

[snowy76]

OP here. Well, it's on ice and not swelling so I'm hopeful it's just bruising. Not because of the cost, but because he's right handed! Just to be sure, we made an appointment for tomorrow at the place where he had his arm operated on when it was broken six years ago.
I wasn't trying to get something out of the school, not interested in suing or anything, I was just wondering if they had insurance to cover things like this.
My middle school child said he's playing the same game, "hand ball" in gym and he doesn't want to be goalie because they don't have any protective gear and he's afraid he'll get hit in the face. Nice game.

Our older DS got his front tooth knocked in playing handball a couple of weeks ago! The tooth got dislodged and he has to wear a small set of braces on his front teeth for the next couple of months. The dentist thought the school might pay for it, but I work in a high school and I've never heard of such a thing It was just DS playing hard - and ramming his face into another kid's elbow (or vice versa, either way it was an accident).

OP - goalies generally don't wear any gear in handball AFAIK. Sort of like soccer - not like hockey (and I don't remember us ever wearing gear for floor hockey in gym class anyway).

 

[imsayin]

I would call the school and ask. When DD broke her arm at school, the nurse told me they have insurance & gave me a form. I used my insurance first, but the school's paid what it didn't (my deductible, etc.). I didn't pay extra for this insurance, the school just had it.

 

[Niagara2]

DS was playing basketball and with a turn, went down and tore his ACL and both sides of the miniscus. Major surgery and rehap. This was last June. Happy to say he started to practice with the baseball team this month after being in PT and sidelined since last June.
The school has a supplemental policy.....our private insurance was first, and whatever co-pays or other not covered items there were are sent to the schools insurance company. I think we may have paid a token amount when we signed them up for sports for the coverage. It was well worth it for us as our private insurance had limited amounts of PT visits in a year and DS continued to go as needed under the school insurance.
Thank goodness for insurance...his medical care in the ER, tests, specialists, surgeon, physical theapy etc. reached into the tens of thousands of dollars in bills.

 

[dixonismydog]

Eekk! Hope your son is feeling better. My DD11, broke her hand at school this week too. Slipped and fell at recess.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

My daughter got a level 3 ankle sprain at school. The costs were ours to bear.

I would not go to the ER. My son had a broken arm once and I took him to the ER. They just sent us to the PCP and then mailed a huge bill. I would just wait and go to the regular doctor in the morning.

 

[3PrezGirls]

My dd broke her ankle a couple of years ago in gym class. Playing soccer, she and other girl went after the ball. She fell and landed on it wrong. Our insurance paid for the whole bill although I was told by the school nurse if our insurance didn't pay to let her know and the school's insurance would pick it up. I never went after the school for co-pays. Like many said accidents happen and it could have been anyone just happened to be my daughter. Just to add, we were asked by our insurance to fill out a form explaining the accident in detail. As far as I know they didn't go after the school for anything that was paid.

 

[stmize]

I've had some experience with this. My ds was on a school field trip put of town and fell down some steps. Broken ankle. School ins paid my copays and deductibles. Had to submit bills and copy of personal ins eob s showing what my portion was
Dd has fallen twice at school this yr. Broke arm and broke foot. School didnt pay anything.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

My DD was sent to the ER from school one day because she fell out of a desk onto her arm. She was fine, it was just hurt, but we had to pay everything. I didn't even think to get the school to.

My other DD cheers for the school and we had to submit all of our Ins info in case of an accident. If you didn't have Ins, you had to purchase some kind of ins through the school or she couldn't cheer.

 

[sunshine1178]

My step hurt her ankle and knee (separate incidents) in soccer this year. Totally our financial responsibility, according to the school. My insurance sees it differently. I suppose we'll have to see a lawyer. If the school had shown one ounce of compassion or remorse, I'd go after the insurance company. But they haven't, and so...

 

[daisyduck123]

I know in our district, they offer a supplemental medical policy at the beginning of the school year to cover accidents in school if you want it; otherwise, you use your own insurance.

Same in my county.

 

[tavettava]

They didn't want to when dd got hurt but they eventually did. Dd is autistic and was in a jewlery class (I tried to get her out of it because she is blind in one eye.) She was using a polisher and it grabbed her long hair and ripped a huge chunk of hair out of the top, she was totally bald on top of her head. Her head was also pulled toward the polisher and the piece that is pointy (the polishing wheel is screwed on it) went into her head and she had a deep puncture. We ended up going to urgent care. Said she may have concusion so watch her. Two days later she woke up confused and didnt know the day's, so off to er. Cat scan and neurologist didn't specialize in peds sent us by ambulance to the childrens hospital. She had a bleed, it went away on its own, thank god. She still has some memory loss, but its getting better and this happened a year ago at the end of this month.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Injuries are pretty common in contact sports. Most schools require parents to obtain insurance and sign waivers of liability in order for their children to participate.

My step hurt her ankle and knee (separate incidents) in soccer this year. Totally our financial responsibility, according to the school. My insurance sees it differently. I suppose we'll have to see a lawyer. If the school had shown one ounce of compassion or remorse, I'd go after the insurance company. But they haven't, and so...

 

[jcanary]

My daughter got a torn ACL during a school basketball game. With all of the therapy, surgeries, etc, the school paid our deductibles. Now this was about 9 years ago but my husband coaches soccer at a public school and whenever someone gets hurt, even a twisted ankle he has to hand in paperwork that it happened during the school sport activity and the family of the child has to fill one out. I guess it must depend upon your school. but then if you don't inquiry after an injury you will never know.