A Literature Review on Professional Sports Injury and Illness Insurance System in the USA

This paper probes into and makes a literature review on the professional sports injury and illness insurance system in the USA. The result shows: The professional sports injury and illness insurance system in the United States has developed into two independent and mutually influential systems: State-based workers‘compensation(insurance) system and sports league-based injury and illness insurance system. The related research on professional sports injury and illness insurance in the United States mainly focuses on the legal application of state workers' compensation law for professional athletes' work related injury and illness, the judicial reform and the development of professional sports injury and illness insurance system, the injury and illness insurance of retired athletes, non-elite athletes and women athletes, as well as the specific types of insurance such as player disability insurance,player contract insurance, liability insurance of the relevant personnel and so on. The research subjects are mainly concentrated in the four professional sports leagues and some minor professional sports leagues in the USA. The researches have revealed the professional sports dilemmas of benefit distribution center around athletes' injuries and illness in the USA. Besides these researches have provided an extraterritorial guidance for the construction of related system of professional sports in China. China should make use of the institutional advantages of itself, adhere to combination of“release,supervise and serve”functions and establish an injury and illness insurance system of professional sports in line with China's national conditions, so as to promote the balanced development of professional sports and non-professional sports security systems.