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Who should pay for retired players medical bills?
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<blockquote data-quote="jaybadger82" data-source="post: 499451" data-attributes="member: 6211"><p>In 2011, the NFL led all major professional sports in America with $11 billion in revenues. The second highest grossing sport, MLB, trailed far behind at $7 billion. That revenue gap will likely continue to grow, even though the football season offers far fewer games (i.e. revenue generating opportunities) than other sports.</p><p> </p><p>Given the current revenue picture and the overwhelming popularity of football in America, I don't think the NFL's <em>existence</em> is in any serious danger at this point, despite the recent lawsuits concerning the long-term medical costs associated with the sport. These suits may be resolved by arbitration, according to the terms of past and present collective bargaining agreements (likely resulting in a league-friendly resolution). They might settle. They might fail. Even if these lawsuits are successful, they don't eliminate the popularity and consumer demand for professional football in this country.</p><p> </p><p>The issue is really more about how the costs of playing such a violent sport should be distributed. Under the present system, the costs of continuing healthcare for many long-term, football-related injuries is being born by taxpayers and consumers: through state worker's compensation programs (as seen in CA) and, in the future, under the affordable care act; and in the form of increased private medical insurance rates for lower risk individuals to offset the costs of higher risk individuals such as former professional football players.</p><p> </p><p>Much like when NFL owners leverage taxpayers for the construction of new facilities, this amounts to foisting private expenses upon the public sector and I am of the view that the NFL should do more to absorb these long-term medical expenses as part of the cost of doing business. It will eat into profits and owners won't like it, but they generate tremendous revenue by marketing a remarkably violent product; it only makes sense that they cover the cost of injuries attributable to the creation of this product.</p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>Seems like this sort of knee-jerk attitude is pretty widespread. I think it overlooks the fact that <em>most NFL players make less than one million dollars per year </em>and the <em>average</em> NFL career lasts just three and a half years. As a practical matter, roughly half this salary is lost to Uncle Sam in taxes. Many players never amass millions and the money they make probably doesn't go as far as you seem to think it does, especially where there's a family to support... (Never mind the institutional failure of our high schools and colleges to teach these kids how to budget, invest, and save.)</p><p> </p><p>Needless to say, former players are going to face much higher premiums than ordinary folks like you and I. (And let's not forget that <em>the majority of Americans can't afford healthcare unless it's provided by their employer</em>.) No rational insurer willingly drafts a policy covering a football player's existing injuries and they will fight to exclude as unreported any latent injuries that surface years after a player's career is over. The higher medical costs associated with insuring former players will be born by lower-risk policyholders (as with auto insurance), so the result is higher insurance costs for you and I (or our employers). The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a game changer and- though I haven't waded through all the provisions- I expect that the healthcare costs for former players that cannot afford coverage will be shifted to the public, resulting in higher costs, again, for you and I. (Yay socialism! <img src="/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/rolleyes.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll Eyes :rolleyes:" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />)</p><p> </p><p>As described above, I believe it's unacceptable for private enterprises to shift the costs of their business to the public. That's exactly what's going on here as the healthcare costs for former players is so often attributable (at least in part) to playing professional football. I'm rather disappointed (though not surprised) by NFL owners that seek to avoid these costs in order to protect substantial private profits and the NFLPA has done a poor job in negotiating on behalf of former players in this area.</p><p> </p><p>Nonetheless, the NFL should not be permitted to socialize private business expenses through the government and this reflects the danger of a government that has grown so extensive in our society.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jaybadger82, post: 499451, member: 6211"] In 2011, the NFL led all major professional sports in America with $11 billion in revenues. The second highest grossing sport, MLB, trailed far behind at $7 billion. That revenue gap will likely continue to grow, even though the football season offers far fewer games (i.e. revenue generating opportunities) than other sports. Given the current revenue picture and the overwhelming popularity of football in America, I don't think the NFL's [I]existence[/I] is in any serious danger at this point, despite the recent lawsuits concerning the long-term medical costs associated with the sport. These suits may be resolved by arbitration, according to the terms of past and present collective bargaining agreements (likely resulting in a league-friendly resolution). They might settle. They might fail. Even if these lawsuits are successful, they don't eliminate the popularity and consumer demand for professional football in this country. The issue is really more about how the costs of playing such a violent sport should be distributed. Under the present system, the costs of continuing healthcare for many long-term, football-related injuries is being born by taxpayers and consumers: through state worker's compensation programs (as seen in CA) and, in the future, under the affordable care act; and in the form of increased private medical insurance rates for lower risk individuals to offset the costs of higher risk individuals such as former professional football players. Much like when NFL owners leverage taxpayers for the construction of new facilities, this amounts to foisting private expenses upon the public sector and I am of the view that the NFL should do more to absorb these long-term medical expenses as part of the cost of doing business. It will eat into profits and owners won't like it, but they generate tremendous revenue by marketing a remarkably violent product; it only makes sense that they cover the cost of injuries attributable to the creation of this product. Seems like this sort of knee-jerk attitude is pretty widespread. I think it overlooks the fact that [I]most NFL players make less than one million dollars per year [/I]and the [I]average[/I] NFL career lasts just three and a half years. As a practical matter, roughly half this salary is lost to Uncle Sam in taxes. Many players never amass millions and the money they make probably doesn't go as far as you seem to think it does, especially where there's a family to support... (Never mind the institutional failure of our high schools and colleges to teach these kids how to budget, invest, and save.) Needless to say, former players are going to face much higher premiums than ordinary folks like you and I. (And let's not forget that [I]the majority of Americans can't afford healthcare unless it's provided by their employer[/I].) No rational insurer willingly drafts a policy covering a football player's existing injuries and they will fight to exclude as unreported any latent injuries that surface years after a player's career is over. The higher medical costs associated with insuring former players will be born by lower-risk policyholders (as with auto insurance), so the result is higher insurance costs for you and I (or our employers). The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a game changer and- though I haven't waded through all the provisions- I expect that the healthcare costs for former players that cannot afford coverage will be shifted to the public, resulting in higher costs, again, for you and I. (Yay socialism! :rolleyes:) As described above, I believe it's unacceptable for private enterprises to shift the costs of their business to the public. That's exactly what's going on here as the healthcare costs for former players is so often attributable (at least in part) to playing professional football. I'm rather disappointed (though not surprised) by NFL owners that seek to avoid these costs in order to protect substantial private profits and the NFLPA has done a poor job in negotiating on behalf of former players in this area. Nonetheless, the NFL should not be permitted to socialize private business expenses through the government and this reflects the danger of a government that has grown so extensive in our society. [/QUOTE]
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Who should pay for retired players medical bills?
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