Reed Doughty Facebook page - The owners have decided not to continue players health insurance past march 4.

[Bubble Screen]

I don't like this. This whole thing is about greed.

:obvious:

---------- Post added February-9th-2011 at 04:07 AM ----------

Yea this really bugs me. Of all the sports, BASEBALL guarantees you practically everything. As if you're at serious risk to break your legs.

They play 162 games a year, guy. And that's not even counting spring training games.

[joeknows]

did i read that right? millionaires are worried about paying doctors bills for their kids? hell i can barely cover the co pay but damn .... with the money these guys make and they worry they cant pay a full priced doctors visit?

[WhoRUSupposed2Be]

These players make a lot of money and have known for a couple of years that a potential work stoppage was going to happen. If they couldn't alter their lifestyle to shove back some rainy day money I really don't have a lot of sympathy for them.

This is pretty much how I feel about the situation also.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

did i read that right? millionaires are worried about paying doctors bills for their kids? hell i can barely cover the co pay but damn .... with the money these guys make and they worry they cant pay a full priced doctors visit?

Can't you flip this? These billionaires have 53 employees and can't afford to pay their health insurance premiums. What is wrong with them?

[2cents]

Sorry guys. If you make a million dollars a year, you shouldn't have to worry about medical bills. It is no one's fault but yours that you waste that money on mansions and 15 Ferraris and strippers and all the other crap the players waste their money on. Maybe if you had taken advantage of that free education in college that most of you wasted you would have learned how to handle money. Welcome to the real world. If you don't like it, get a real job and see how that works out for you. I'm sure most of the rest of us would love to have your "problems".

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Can't you flip this? These billionaires have 53 employees and can't afford to pay their health insurance premiums. What is wrong with them?

I don't believe they claimed that they "couldn't" pay the premiums. I think they are planning to stop covering those 53 people once they are no longer employees. Won't they technically NOT be working for the owners starting in March? It's not like the owners are pulling the plug on the coaches, front-office staff, etc.

Other than the "good faith" argument, tell me why any owner should pay for health care of someone with which they are in a labor dispute? As others have mentioned, none of this is being sprung on anyone...the players have had two years to make arrangements to get ready for March of 2011. Anyone who runs out of money, doesn't have benefits, etc. has only himself to blame.

[JoeSkins]

If the owners want to take their ball and go home, let them. They're prepared and capable of surviving it financially.

The players will cave because they're myopic and terrible with money. Frankly, I wouldn't care that the players are forced to make concessions because, as I said above, it's the owners' ball they're playing with. I'm glad the players use their physical gifts and work ethic to earn every single penny they can because that's capitalism, but it's a long time coming that the NFL self-adjusts to be in greater favor of the people who are making the investment that allows them to do so.

As for health insurance, there's no obligation to pay out for people who aren't working for you. As said ad nauseum in this thread, "Go buy some like the rest of us."

[neilclarke]

Maybe Obama-Care can take care of them???

[RiggosMohawk]

As for health insurance, there's no obligation to pay out for people who aren't working for you.

According to Reed this is not the case. You make the opening day roster, you get health benefits for a year. So LJ is still given health insurance even though he's long gone and not an employee of the Redskins, or any other team, right now.

[BigHerc]

The players will have the ability to purchase the insurance monthly via COBRA for 18 months, I did it when I was unemployed and it cost $1,200 per month for my family and I. By the way, I made a tiny fraction of what Reed makes so if I was able to handle it for 7 months it shouldn't be too difficult for him to handle. This is still Millionaires battling Billionaires, not much sympathy for either side from me.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

According to Reed this is not the case. You make the opening day roster, you get health benefits for a year. So LJ is still given health insurance even though he's long gone and not an employee of the Redskins, or any other team, right now.

Are you saying that the owners are breaking some sort of law? I think we can all understand that the owners are acting differently this year than in the past. That's not really up for debate since, in a typical football year, the players would still be covered. However, the owners are locking out the players...so why would they insure people who won't be performing work? They won't be attending meetings, off-season activities, etc.

[Art Monk Fan]

According to Reed this is not the case. You make the opening day roster, you get health benefits for a year. So LJ is still given health insurance even though he's long gone and not an employee of the Redskins, or any other team, right now.

Yes, but is this a provision of the current CBA? If so, that agreement ends on March 4 and the owners are no longer obligated to abide by it's terms. And the union knew this and should have prepared the players.

[Popeman38]

According to Reed this is not the case. You make the opening day roster, you get health benefits for a year. So LJ is still given health insurance even though he's long gone and not an employee of the Redskins, or any other team, right now.

According to Reed, "normally" you have coverage for a calendar year. Normally being a year in which a negotiated CBA is in place. This has been no "normal" year. There was no salary cap, nor was there a salary floor. This has been a known by product of not having CBA. Reed is toeing the company line, but if he really didn't know this was going to happen he has 2 people to blame: 1) the head of the NFLPA, and 2) his teams player rep. Seeing as how the NFLPA told players to start saving money ~18 months ago, methinks Reed is simply toeing the line like a good union member.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

According to Reed, "normally" you have coverage for a calendar year. Normally being a year in which a negotiated CBA is in place. This has been no "normal" year. There was no salary cap, nor was there a salary floor. This has been a known by product of not having CBA. Reed is toeing the company line, but if he really didn't know this was going to happen he has 2 people to blame: 1) the head of the NFLPA, and 2) his teams player rep. Seeing as how the NFLPA told players to start saving money ~18 months ago, methinks Reed is simply toeing the line like a good union member.

Good post...I don't want any of my comments in this thread to seem like I'm bashing Doughty. He's doing what he should be doing. But, so are the owners.

[Stew]

Problem is that they may not want to since they aren't recieving a check. What you're saying makes logical sense, but they may be saying "Forget That i'm not paying for anything!"

Hard to have sympathy for someone who can afford, but refuses to pay for healthcare, just because their current healthcare plan is ending.

[sempre_victrix]

Cry me a river. These guys make bazillions of dollars. Let them purchase their own health insurance.

[JoeSkins]

According to Reed, "normally" you have coverage for a calendar year. Normally being a year in which a negotiated CBA is in place. This has been no "normal" year. There was no salary cap, nor was there a salary floor. This has been a known by product of not having CBA. Reed is toeing the company line, but if he really didn't know this was going to happen he has 2 people to blame: 1) the head of the NFLPA, and 2) his teams player rep. Seeing as how the NFLPA told players to start saving money ~18 months ago, methinks Reed is simply toeing the line like a good union member.

You responded better than I ever could. And more politely!

[RandyHolt]

Welcome to America! Where health insurance is reserved only an employed heatlhy person, with a healthy family.

You would think with our insane govt spending we could afford health insurance for all. Instead, the sickest limp into the emergency room and you pay for it at the end of the day, anyway. Why the charade?

Sorry but Reed just has an audience, there are millions like him in our country, whose tweets go unheard since they cant afford an internet connection.