You Want What?!!
Last week, Dave received a note and a packet of paperwork from Eden Haladay at the NFL Player Care Foundation. Dave had no idea why they were even sending him something like this but we took some time to look over the paperwork and the process involved.
Keep in mind that over the years, Dave’s experiences with the various “programs” have generally resulted in a lot of skepticism and made cynics out of most of us who have followed these things for a while. The best recent example was Dave’s experience with the Hip Replacement program (read about some of that in a recent post HERE).
Check out the application forms as well as all the Disclosures and caveats attached. Basically, they want you – and your spouse – to submit to what amounts to a full body-cavity search for financial and criminal background information. All this while the NFL hides behind its antitrust protection and the NFLPA continues to demand an audit of the NFL’s books – even as they both continue to keep as much information on themselves hidden as they possibly can. The Player Care Foundation wants at least two years of your tax returns – along with your spouse’s tax returns. Apparently, this is now going to be their new policy in processing applications. While we can understand the need to prevent fraud, there’s absolutely no assurances that your information will be kept confidential and not used against you for their own ends. During Upshaw’s reign, Dave’s personal, confidential medical information was posted online for a while in their White Paper debacle (read about that HERE) – a clear violation of HIPAA laws.
It’s not like they hand out much money to the few applicants who manage to apply but the real question remains: If the pension and disability benefits programs were actually functional and worked the way they were supposed to work – while at least matching that of MLB – would any of these window-dressing programs developed and run by hired bureaucrats be necessary? Shouldn’t the objective be to clear the roadblocks and make it easier for the retired players to get access to what’s owed to them rather than have them jump through endless hoops for something that’s not there? (As always, click on each page to enlarge for easier reading.)
