The families of hockey player Jack Jablonski and football player Ethan Glynn lived through traumatic injuries to the two student-athletes 11 years apart.

However, they are now linked in their fight for more insurance coverage for “catastrophic” injuries from the Minnesota State High School League.

“Our lives changed in an instant,” Leslie Jablonski told the Minnesota Senate Education Policy Committee about her son Jack’s injury in 2011. “There was Jack checked from behind, went into the boards, couldn’t get up. I went out on the ice, and he just said, ‘Mom, I can’t move. I can’t move my legs.’ The next thing you know he’s on a gurney.”

Leslie and Mike Jablonski testified about their experience and the devastating financial impact on their family. 

“In 2011, my son Jack Jablonski was injured in a hockey game … it was a catastrophic injury,” Mike Jablonski told the committee. He said the “catastrophic injury” insurance policy from the MSHSL provided up to $2 million in coverage.

Over a lifetime, he says, that is just a fraction of the costs to Jack and his family. Mike also said the insurance company often denied coverage.

“When we applied for this (accessible) van, they said, ‘No, we reject it. Jack’s not fully disabled,’” Mike said. “My son has had a caregiver for 10 years, 24/7.”

The MSHSL has since increased catastrophic injury coverage to $3 million dollars, but the Senate bill proposes mandating the coverage be increased to $10 million.

“It has to do with requiring the Minnesota State High School league to provide greater levels of catastrophic insurance,” said bill author Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis).

In addition to increasing the maximum insurance coverage, the MSHSL has also extended coverage to ninth-grade teams. However, that came a year too late for Ethan Glynn and his family. 

“So, I was actually on the field when Ethan was injured,” Corey Glynn testified about his son’s injury in 2022. “By the time I got to him, the words I heard were, ‘I can’t feel my arms or legs.’ The word catastrophic it almost doesn’t do it justice.”

In 2022, the MSHSL offered zero coverage for ninth-grade teams and activities. 

“Like any parent, I cheered from the stands, not knowing in the blink of an eye my life would completely change,” Ethan’s mom, Cassidy Durkin, told senators. “If he had been on JV or varsity team, he would have been covered. But because he was on a freshman team, we were left to figure things out on our own.”

The bill authored by Dibble not only proposes to increase coverage but also for retroactive payments still to be determined for the Jablonski and Glynn families. “I’m asking you, actually pleading with you, to fix this gap in coverage as well as the amount of coverage so that no other mother has to sit where I am sitting today.”

MSHSL officials testified that in addition to increasing maximum coverage from $2 million to $3 million and extending coverage to ninth-grade teams, they’ve also researched what other states are doing.

They say, of nearby states, only Kansas provides more coverage than Minnesota. They provide $5 million in maximum coverage, while all other states are $3 million or less. The MSHSL says they received an estimate of $250,000 per year to increase coverage to $5 million.

“We buy three million (in coverage), the bill says 10 million, we think it’s best you let the board weigh what that number might be,” testified Roger Aronson, a lobbyist for the MSHSL. “These are tough issues with injured kids. You know, they’re just tough.”

The executive director of the MSHSL, Erich Martens, says they are willing to consider other changes. “We remain open to further discussion and input from our schools, from students, from families, as to what those coverages should be,” he told lawmakers.

Senate Education Policy Committee Chair Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (DFL-Eden Prairie) said it was a difficult bill to hear. “I’m not sure in my nine years I’ve been on such an intellectual and emotional rollercoaster as this hearing today.”

The bill will be considered for inclusion in a larger education bill at the end of the legislative session. A similar bill has been introduced in the House.