NFL Disability Policy Has Left A Former Saints Tight End Heartbroken And Upset. Boo Williams, a former tight end for the Saints, is struggling to afford surgery, medicine, and doctors due to his ongoing pain.
NFL Disability Policy Has Left A Former Saints Tight End Heartbroken And Upset. The NFL’s disability benefit plan recently awarded him $5,000 a month but claims the plan and the league have repeatedly mishandled his claims and should have paid him $500,000 or more over the past 14 years.
The NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan has added millions of dollars to the plan for retired players with injuries they suffered playing football or that emerged after their careers were over.
Approved as part of the collective-bargaining agreements between the league and the players union, the plan expects to pay more than $330 million in benefits in 2023, a more than six-fold increase over the past 12 years.
However, plaintiffs’ lawyers point to a high rate of claim denials and a system in which doctors assigned to examine players are paid by the NFL plan as evidence the system is rigged against retirees.
Earlier this year, 10 players, including retired Pro Bowl running back Willis McGahee, filed a lawsuit accusing the program of unfairly denying benefits to injured retirees.
Williams, who was first signed as an undrafted rookie for a salary of about $200,000 and made about $2 million over his career, never sought the top award.
Lawyers representing Pro Bowl player McGahee and others have found a relationship between the amount doctors are paid and the number of denials they issue.
The NFL claims there is no link between the amount doctors are paid and their denial rate, but the league did not respond to questions about injuries or the specifics of how Williams’ case was altered.
Williams has received about $45,000 since being approved earlier this year, but he still has no car and says he can’t afford the medical care he needs for his neck injury.
He reached a low point in 2011 when he laid down on railroad tracks near the Saints training facility in Metairie, Louisiana. He entered rehab at the Crosby Center in San Diego, where his experience and the help of medical marijuana have kept him alive for the past decade-plus.
NFL health insurance for retired players ends after five years, so Williams’ benefits stopped in 2012. After that, he struggled to pay for doctors’ visits and MRIs on his constantly aching neck.
When Williams finally got approved for NFL disability payments this year, it was based on what a program-appointed neuropsychologist determined were psychiatric impairments that rendered him totally and permanently disabled.
Williams appealed, arguing for the increased benefit because the 2023 approval was based on identical medical information used for a December 2019 application filed before the 15-year deadline and rejected.
The letter leaned heavily on Williams missing appointments with the plan-appointed neurologist and neuropsychologist, all of which indicated extensive impairment.
Because program rules required him to wait a year and then the COVID-19 pandemic caused more delays, Williams couldn’t reapply until this year. However, Williams said the league should have been well aware of his issues and not only because of the medical records he submitted over the years.
READ ALSO
- Gabe Amo, A Former Biden Aide, Wins The Rhode Island House Special Election
-
Capitol Clash: Byron Donalds Has a Message for AOC
