Much has been said about the plight of the retired NFL players, and I am hoping that the wordplay is coming to an end.  It’s not that I feel the issue is unimportant, or irrelevant, but it’s time for some action on the issue.  Both sides have stated their cases in the court of public opinion and on Capitol Hill, and judging from past events, by the time something gets to Washington, it’s usually too late to do anything about it.

Let’s solve the problem.  Not in the usual way, where the union and NFL have a meeting and announce that they will have future meetings to work toward a common goal, as was announced earlier this year with regard to disability.  I’m talking about real answers that no one else is talking about.
First, retired players should be able to get health insurance for problems caused by playing football. An easy way to do this is to provide an orthopedic-only insurance policy for players.  While I don’t believe that all football injuries are contained in this area, I believe it would catch the majority (back surgeries, knee replacements, etc).  Also, it is exactly these pre-existing conditions that keep many players from getting good individual health insurance.  If the coverage could not be provided for all former players, it could be league-subsidized to keep premiums low and free for players who can show low income status. I would even be willing to apply a vesting to this (5 years of service to qualify), or a graduated scale (coverage increasing with years played). This makes sense, and would go a long way toward showing the league is responsible. 

I do not believe that players should expect full coverage health insurance for life.  I don’t believe it is the league’s responsibility to pay for care because a retired player smokes and gets lung cancer, or doesn’t exercise, eats poorly and has heart trouble.  These are obviously unreasonable expectations.

But let’s look at this another way.  The US courts have held that McDonald’s is responsible for damages caused by hot coffee being too hot,  that supermarkets are liable for people who slip and fall in the aisles, and tobacco companies are responsible for ailing smokers who grab cigarettes from a pack that virtually has a skull and crossbones on it.  These are all willful decisions on the part of those who “suffered”. How under these circumstances, can the NFL not be responsible for the injuries to its players?   The NFL specifically told these men to run into each other as hard as they could almost every day for each six month season, and now they are going to claim that they shouldn’t have to cover the injuries caused by this behavior.  Under this logic, coal mining companies shouldn’t have to cover a miner who develops black lung!

On the issue of Disability, the newly imposed ‘Social Security’ test is a good one.  The previous system was riddled with conflicts of interest between doctors, and NFL sympathizers.  Use of an outside system (the Social Security rules for disability benefits) takes away the ability to deny benefits based on technicalities or rigged doctors.  If this change can be implemented smoothly, and the procedures outlined clearly to those in need, the needy players can get the help they need.

To get things like this accomplished, the burden usually rests on the current players being informed and ready to act.   However, as a former NFLPA player representative I know that current players are concerned with many things, most notably staying employed, and most don’t get that involved with the union/NFL dialogue.   It just takes up too much time to keep up with all the “he said, she said” political bull crap.   And while I find Gene Upshaw and his 6+ million dollar yearly income lacking in many areas, I will leave his dissection for a future article.  Until then, this issue will most likely only be resolved when the NFL feels pain in its pocketbook.