Tips For Filing a Claim
If you are a registered USA Hockey member and you are injured while participating in a USA Hockey sanctioned activity, follow these procedures:
- Step 1: At the hospital or doctor’s office, always provide them with your individual, employer health plan, union plan, etc., information as your primary plan.
- The USAH plan requires that treatment following an injury must occur within 30 days from the injury date.
- Step 2: The Next Business Day: Call your local program Registrar to request a claim form, or if you do not know who to call locally, please call USA Hockey at 800 566 3288, x123. If you have no other insurance, then your USAH plan will be the primary plan with a $3,500 deductible.
- DO NOT DELAY getting a claim form or submitting to K&K Insurance. The policy has a timely filing provision and you do not want to jeopardize your claim by not filing within the required time. Upon receipt of your claim, we send an acknowledgement letter and highlights of the coverage/limitations of the plan. By filing your claim after your injury, you are made aware of this information early. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOUR PRIMARY INSURANCE HAS COMPLETELY FINISHED YOUR CLAIM BEFORE SENDING IN YOUR USAH CLAIM FORM.
- Make sure your claim form has been signed in the appropriate places by the appropriate designated persons.
- Make sure your claim form is submitted along with documentation of your USAH membership.
- ONLY CLAIMS ARISING FROM A USAH SANCTIONED ACTIVITY WILL BE HONORED.
- Step 3: Upon receipt of your acknowledgment letter from K & K you should provide the hospital or doctor’s office with your USA Hockey plan information as your secondary plan.
- By giving all of the medical providers both your primary and secondary information, they will automatically send the proper itemized medical bill and your primary insurance Explanation of Benefits (EOB), thereby, removing this responsibility from you of collecting the proper information to send with your USAH claim. By following this instruction, your K & K claim administrator will be able to contact the medical providers to request information without being told they cannot release anything to us because we are not on file with them.
- Whether provided by the medical provider or directly from you, medical bills must be in an itemized format with dates of service, diagnosis codes, and procedure codes.
- If submitting as a secondary claim, each itemized bill must be accompanied by your primary insurance Explanation of Benefits (EOB), whether this is provided by the medical provider or by yourself.
- If you have paid any of your medical expenses, please indicate that clearly on the medical bills so that payment will be sent to you.
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR CLAIM AFTER IT HAS BEEN FILED: Call K&K Insurance at 1-800-237-2917, Option 1.
Can players from outside the association who are rostered with another team skate on another team? While not really a written rule from USA Hockey or MAHA, KVHA does not allow unrostered players to participate in team practices, based upon the rule that having coaches and players participating in games who are not rostered is grounds for suspension. There is no specific rule about non-rostered players during practices, but we based this on the fact that the USA Hockey rules definitely do not allow for the players to be rostered on more than one team during the regular season, and this is how they are covered under their USA Hockey liability policy. Additionally, this could also be seen as tampering even if the parent says he has permission from their head coach. There may be a way to gain an exception, but this is not granted at the association level, contact MAHA District 4 for assistance.
Anyone who has not completed the proper items is not allowed on the ice or the bench in any capacity. Players rostered to another team are not allowed to participate on the ice. The Head Coach will be suspended for violations
Un-rostered players and coaches are not allowed to participate on the ice for practice or be on the bench during a game. A rostered member of the team has certain protections through USA Hockey's liability coverage that un-rostered individuals do not. If a person is not rostered, and they are on the bench during a game and receive a penalty as a coach, or there is some other incident during a game, the head coach can be suspended for having an un-rostered coach on the bench. Additionally, if an un-rostered coach is on the ice during practice, and someone is injured, the liability insurance for the entire team will be nullified due to having that un-rostered person on the ice. The rule applies to player siblings, coaches of other children, friends, and even those rostered on other KVHA teams. This is not optional, and coaches will be suspended immediately pending a hearing if it occurs. This is not a KVHA rule, but a USA Hockey / MAHA rule and it will be strictly enforced. It seems like a lot for a kid's game but ultimately it is about safety and ensuring that we have properly screened and trained adults in a supervisory capacity. Injuries to non-rostered siblings/players/coaches are at your own risk and not that of KVHA.
CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE
Sometimes when playing at another neutral rink, college rink, or privately owned rink, you may be required to obtain proof of insurance for your hockey team. To Request for Certificate Of Insurance complete the link below and submit to the District Risk Manager of Michigan:
Robert Yohe (906) 485-1605; bob.yohe@usahockey.org
Grant Helms (989) 859-4506; grant.helms@usahockey.org
Remember, if the rink requires that they be named as additional insured, you must forward a copy of your rink contract to your risk manager for review before the certificate can be processed.
TRAVELING TO CANADA?
To ensure that your team's USA Hockey insurance coverage follows the team to Canada, a permit is required for all exhibition games and tournaments played in Canada. This permit has a date of issue and date of expiration. To obtain your permit, click on the registration link through MAHA's website and fill in all the required information. There is a $25 fee for this permit.
Note: You can list all your exhibition games of the season when you apply of the $25 fee. If you need to add games at a later date you will need to submit a new application, which will result in an additional fee being due. You must submit your application at least (1) one week in advance to ensure time for approval prior to the tournament.
The standard insurance coverage will be considered to be in effect as long as the injured participant was wearing the proper protective equipment as mandated by the organization (Hockey Canada or USA Hockey) with which he/she is registered.
Please note that all other playing rules of the host country are in effect for games played in that country, except when U.S. teams are playing on U.S. soil in Canadian‐based leagues using Hockey Canada rules under league direction, and vice versa.
AGE CLASSIFICATIONS AND LEVELS OF PLAY
In the United States, USA Hockey designates the levels, ages and classifications for youth or minor hockey.
USA Hockey designates four skill levels:
- Tier 1: The highest level of competition, also called "AAA"
- Tier 2: also called "AA" and"A".
- Tier 3: may also be called Recreational/Developmental: Includes house league and select. May also be called "B", "C"
WHAT DO THE DESIGNATIONS B, A, AA, AND AAA MEAN?
At each youth hockey age group, there are three distinct classifications: B/BB, A/AA and AAA. The single letter is the minor birth year; The double letter is the major birth year. For example, in the Squirt age group the "A" classification is 9 years old and the "AA" is for 10 year olds.
Many large organizations and leagues, especially Tier 1, tend to use the two-year window allowed for each age group. In these situations, teams composed entirely or primarily of players in their second year of eligibility are designated 'major' teams, while those with players in their 1st year of eligibility are designated "minor" teams. (For example, ten-year-olds would be "squirt majors" while nine-year-olds would be "squirt minors".)
B or BB (House|Tier 3) is a recreational level with the following requirements.
- No tryouts
- Everyone plays
- Teams are formed by drafts
- Teams are limited to the number of second year players on a team according to the MAHA formula
A or AA (Tier 2) is a competitive level with the following requirements.
- Teams are formed by tryouts
- Limited to players within their districts with a maximum of 3 players from outside their district (Midget classification is allowed 6 players out of district)
AAA (Tier 1) is a competitive level with the following requirements.
- This is a top level of play
- Teams are formed by tryouts
- Players can come from anywhere, even out of state
AGE CLASSIFICATION
In addition to the level of play, there are divisions based on age
- Learn to Play - age 3 through 10
- Mini Mite - age 5 & 6
- Mite - age 7 & 8
- Squirt - age 9 & 10|
- PeeWee - age 11 & 12
- Bantam - age 13 & 14
- Midget - age 15 through 18
Girls hockey teams are typically a two birth year team and use alternate terms for their classifications:
- 10U - ages 10 and under
- 12U - age 11 & 12
- 14U - age 13 & 14
- 16U - age 15 & 16
- 19U - Ages 17 - 19
NOTE: No 12u players are eligible to play on a National Bound team. For Boys, this means that a PeeWee(12U) AA player is not eligible to play on a Bantam (14U) AA tea, since Bantam AA is the first national bound year.
For Girls, since 14u Tier 2 is National bound, no 12U players are allowed on those teams for them to be eligible to participate in Nationals.
