CBA Updates - Part I

of NFL legends and their families. With us today are Tracy Perlman, who I would consider in the league office, Powderful Pound, one of the heaviest hitters in the league office and NFL Senior Vice president of Football Communications and Marketing. Blenda Learner, executive director of the NFL Player Care Foundation,

And Jacob Frank, NFL Manager of Collectively Bargained Player Benefits. Today, we're going to give answers to the questions many legends and their families have and give you the tools to get additional information that you need to take advantage of these earned benefits. The first thing I want to talk about is what are the new benefits for legends and their families in the new c b A and how does it compare to what was in the two thousand

eleven deal. Where can I learn more about this? Tracy, Well, I'm gonna let Jacob and Blenda take you through the new benefits, but we reiterate over and over and over again. The place to go for information is the Legends Portal at Players dot NFL dot com. The portal can take you to all the information, but you can also ask the Legends director at your club. You can also talk to any of the twenty four Legends Community directors and coordinators.

You will see information in the newsletter um. You can also follow the Legends community on social media where we will put out that information, and you can go to NFL Player Benefits dot com. So there are multiple ways to get the information. And if you feel comfortable, you can also call us and make a direct connection so that Jacob or Belinda can actually walk you through the information personally. Before I get going, Tracy, could you just kind of give us feedback in terms of the landscape

when this agreement was signed. How often did you hear about players about Legends and how excited, uh, what kind of feedback did you get from the Legends community. So I think the Legends community was kind of waiting with faded breath to see if this was going to get done. And I think what we keep hearing is it's amazing that the current players and the league really took this as seriously as they did, and that this was really

at the forefront of the conversation. So as we talked to players, they are really excited that this was something that was held up high, as this is one of the things we really need to get done, and now guys really want to know how to use it. Because leading into this, I think players were unsure of how

important is this to everyone. And I think the league and and Belinda and Jacob being parted the part of the team who negotiated this, I think the league and the current players really wanted to make sure that they took care of the icons of the game. And that was huge because a lot of the conversations I had with Legends, it was kind of like a wait and

see approach. So thank you for sharing the landscape. There were many benefits for the Legends in the previous c b A. What has changed in this agreement In the Health and Wellderness Area d S. I'll take that one and I'll start off with the NFL's Dedicated Hospital Network. It's new under the NFL Player Insurance Plan, and it's a brand new program designed to provide legends with access to top rated hospitals and club cities by leveraging the

partnerships NFL clubs have with their premier healthcare networks. The service is free to the legend. So who's eligible, Well, the legend must be a vested player typically that's three plus credited seasons or four if they played prior to They cannot currently be on an NFL insurance plan, and

they need to be under the age of six. The launch state is September one one, and the way it's planning on working is that it's going to be administered by SIGNA, So eligible players will receive a card showing they are registered for the program. There'll be a dedicated call in center for the legends to all into. The players call will receive an intake process through one of

the SIGNA representatives who will pick up that fall. Then it's the job of the SIGNA representative to coordinate appointments with the with end services at the hospital which the players assigned to, and then the player will go to the hospital at the appointed time, meet with someone at the hospital will be aware of their visits and they'll coordinate all further services if necessary, even after the player leaves. After the player leaves his appointments in the hospital, again

it is free of charge to those eligible players. And what does it include. These are incredible services. Services will include free preventative care which includes annual physicals and screenings. Depending upon your age, you may be able to get a free prostate exam or colonoscopy. Then you're also entitled to for free limited orthopedic procedures including author scopies, so maybe a meniscus repair or an a c L repair.

Those who are going to be provided on a limited s s and up to a dollar value again free, but the value would be placed in no more than You can also get chiropractic and physical therapy and mental health care. So we're excited about this and the whole idea behind this really and is trying to create access. We want our players to be able to take care of themselves and provide them with the right resources so they can connect with medical facilities that can help them

do that. In Belinda, maybe you mentioned this already. For players that are not in hospitals in league cities, will they be required or responsible to pay to get to those hospitals if they're not living there. No, the original design is to align ourselves with the hospitals that are sponsored by NFL clubs, But any player can have access, So if you live outside of a club city, you can still have free access. The other interesting point is

that you're not assigned to a specific hospital. So even if let's say you live in Miami but you prefer to go to a hospital in Tampa Bay, then you can do that. You're not assigned to a specific hospital. You can have access to any one of those hospitals. And what about education and finance, Yeah, so I'll talk about the Tutition Assistance Benefit, which has been greatly enhanced as part of the new c v A. The Tutition Assistance Benefit will support legends who are interested in continuing

their education. So for those of your listening, perhaps you're thinking about finishing your undergraduate degree, obtaining a graduate school degree, or perhaps it's a trade school certification, it is very important to know there is money available to you, and the dollars have been increased as part of the new cb A. You do not need to be vested in

order to take advantage of the tutition assistance benefit. So if you're not vested, meaning you have at least two credited seasons, you are eligible to receive up to thirty thousand dollars in tuition assistance to go back to school to get that undergraduate degree, graduate school degree, or trade

school certification. For those of you or vested, if you have five or more credited seasons, you can be reimbursed up to one d five thousand dollars by One of the questions that I oftentimes received when I talk about the tutition assistance benefit is can I receive this benefit

and take advantage of let's say, the Trust's scholarship. And the answer is yes, you can take advantage of the tutition assistance benefit under the c b A, and you could take advantage of the scholarship that's provided by the Trust. So for those of you who are not vested, if you take advantage of that thirty thou dollars and the Trust scholarship, which is twenty dollars, you can have upwards of fifty dollars available to you to go back to

school over the course of over the course of your lifetime. Jacob, And I ask you a question, Jacob. The NFL tuition assistance is a reimbursement and the trust is a scholarship. Correct correct Jacob, From the information that you have, are you aware of if players were taken advantage of tuition assistance in the last collective Bargain Agreement? Yeah, we've We've had a significant significant number of players that take advantage

of the tutition Assistance benefit. What we did see though, is that players really wanted to get a trade school certification and that was not an eligible criteria under the previous c b A, and so under the new cb A, we expanded that criteria. So, as I mentioned, you can get that undergraduate degree if you can apply the money towards the graduate school degree and a trade school certification.

We have more than one thousand universities across the country that are eligible under the Tutition Assistance Plan, and you will be eligible to utilize that money for trade school certification. So we're hoping to see more and more legends utilize this benefit as we go forward. And what did it

changes in areas of disability? And yes, would you mind if I just went back and talked a little bit more about some of the other health and wellness programs that are available on the new GM, and then I'll head on back to that. In addition to the NFL Dedicated Hospital Network, there's also an expanded benefit in the Health Reimbursement Account what we call the h r A, so new to the Collective Baring Agreement is a one time fifty thousand dollar contribution to an h RA account

for eligible legends and their dependence. Now, these h RA accounts existed prior, and they were existed under the eleven agreement, but it was limited to players who were vested and typically had a season in two thousand and seven or later, and they would have money put into a n h RA account. In again, we're looking back and trying to help,

as Tracy said earlier, the icons of the game. So in looking back, we have identified players with three plus credited seasons, so you don't need to be vested for those guys three plus credited seasons. Players A Legends who are under the age of sixty five on April one, and legends who had never previously participated in the NFL h ra A plan. As I said, again, players typically with seasons prior to two thousand and seven, they will

get this one time fifty thousand dollar contribution. Again, the benefit is emphasizing to improve access to healthcare, very similar to the thought process behind the NFL Dedicated Hospital Network. What kind of expenses are covered under this h r A. So with this fifty dollars, you can use it to get reimbursed for medical, dental, and vision, and insurance premiums.

You can get your insurance deductibles and co paste covered through reimbursement, prescription drugs, chiropractic visits, mental health visits, and these are some of the expenses that are enumerated and covered under the new h r A. Significantly, this package has already gone out to the players who are eligible, so they will have received the package, and we're proud to say, um they will be able to look back to April one when it came to effect, and any

medical expense covered by the h r A from that point on going forward they could have reimbursed. Thank you. I think so too. We're proud of it. One other I wanted to mention is our Medicare Supplement plan again with the idea of trying to help more of our older players UM. This benefit existed in the twenty eleven c b A, but it's been much expanded UH. It's the benefit designed to assist legends with medical expenses who are sixty five years or older and who are on

Medicare UM. In twenty eleven, vested legends would receive a hundred sixty dollars per month to purchase Medicare Supplement insurance, which is typically called metic gap, and that would be provided only by one it was United Healthcare, and our participation was less than fifty approximately forty two percent of eligible legends, so we wanted to think of ways that we can encourage more players to participate. So under the twenty twenty agreement and effective September one, in order to

encourage more users, we've expanded UM. We've expanded the the options available, so the vested legends would still receive the hundred sixty per month, but now the options have been expanded beyond United Healthcare. There's going to be a retiree exchange that would be available and that will offer both meta gap and advantage plans. From all carriers in the players geographic area. There are about nine hundred eligible legends. So again it's our hope that with more choices will

have more legends that will participate. And then in September one six, the one sixty will go up to two hundred dollars per month. So that's so, I just wanted to make sure we we got in all of the wonderful health and wellness benefits available to the players. I'll stand when of these benefits going to effect well, April some. As I mentioned on the Medicare supplement, it'll start effect of September one. UM, the h r A accounts again April one and so, and the NFL Hospital Network is

scheduled to launch September one one. And when legends expect to see money is reflective in their accounts, well, the in the h ra A account, they should the money is there, and that I understand that the reimbursement forms and all of the necessary materials in order to enroll have been have been mailed out, so they should be in the hands of the players of the legends as

we speak. UM again, the dedicated Hospital Network, we're now coordinating and working with both the clubs and the hospitals in the various cities to try to put the program together, and we're optimistic, even though UM, needless to say, hospitals are very much focused on the COVID nineteen issues. We still think we can meet our deadline of September one, and we'll be providing information to players shortly before that so they know exactly what to do. So here's a

big question for legends. What steps do legends need to take to activate these benefits? Well, depending upon the benefit UM typically you would get, and I'll let Alec Jacob also talk to this. There'll be information being sent from the Plan Benefit Office advising players of exactly what steps they need to take in order to activate them. Jacob, I know you might have more information on that, so

what you can speak to them? That's exactly right. Um. The one point that I would heavily emphasize to legends listening is that it's crucial to visit the NFL Player portal and your personal profile on NFL player Benefits dot Com. NFL player Benefits dot Com is your one stop shop for all of your collectively bargained player benefits. It has been completely revamped and updated with all the cb A

benefits information. Your accounts for your various benefit plans, including your retirement plans, pension for owe K annuity are being updated on a weekly basis so you can see what your account balances are. It's also imperative that you have a current address and email address on file with the NFL Player Benefits Office. You can update your email address as well as your mailing address on NFL Player Benefits

dot Com. But as Belinda mentioned, your LGE ability for the benefits is automatically triggered, so you'll receive that communication via email and mail. But we do want to make sure you have the appropriate address on file to ensure that you are receiving that information and interview all can answer this question and Tracy what players have in these new benefits these great opportunities. A lot of times the wives significant others are the ones that end up reaching

out to get the information. Who are where would you recommend a significant others are the spouses reach out to to get assistance to take advantage of these benefits. First of all, the player legend can actually um give access to the portal to their significant other so they can assign another user so that they can utilize the portal as well, but again same exact people. They should call anybody and the Legends can unity. They can call or

email our office directly. So we know that the wives are really the ones who are taking the initiatives on some of these things, so we make sure that the

wives are also invited to all of the events. So I would suggest to Legends once we are able to host our lunch and learns and our Legends lounges again that bring your wife and make sure that she is listening in on all of the things that are available, because I think in order to activate, it's a lot easier to understand when you're talking to someone directly versus

just looking at it on a piece of paper. Um. The clubs are also doing everything they can to be inclusive of the significant other in the conversations and talk to other wives and give other wives directions because I do believe the wives are also our biggest advocates. And to Jacob's point, I think the wives are the one who will make sure that the information is updated because that is the biggest man us I think on the part of the Legend is you need to be proactive.

You need to check your balances. You need to go into both the Player Benefits UH portal and the Legends portal and make sure your information is updated because it's very hard for us to know how and where to find you if your information keeps changing. So I would suggest number one that you make your wife a significant other user on your accounts. You ensure that you bring your significant other to the events where we allow partners to be there, and that you keep everything updated proactively.

Here's a good question, will any type of legal advice or a lawyer be needed by any legend in order to take advantage of all of these benefits? Yeah? That that's a great question, one that we received quite often. Um the decision, as we say, remains with the legends. So if you are more comfortable with a law are

than great. If you are not, then great. But what I would say is that the NFL as well as the NFL p A have made significant significant strides in simplifying the benefits application process as well as NFL Player Benefits dot com. So it's quick and easy to understand how to apply for say, disability benefits or how do I withdraw my money from the four oh one K or annuity program. There are multitude, as Tracy mentioned, resources available to help you the Legend navigate this is this

oftentimes complex landscape. The other thing that I would add is you may encounter a time where you have a very personal question. Um You may have recently gone through a divorce, You may are thinking thinking about going through a divorce, which oftentimes does have benefit implications. So don't be afraid to to please reach out to myself for blenda representative from the Management Council, or the n f l p A or even the NFL Player Benefits Office.

They have more than fifteen case managers on staff. They can help you navigate benefits landscape and make sure you are taken care of as well as your family and well into the future. Guys, this has been so great we will make it a two parter. Stay tuned for the discussion about Legends benefits. This has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at NFL dot com. Ye