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Union call focused mostly on COBRA

DeMaurice Smith

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2010 file photo, NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith speaks in St Paul, Minn. The NFL Players Association has turned to Congress for help in preventing an owners’ lockout next season, drafting letters for lawmakers to send to the league and holding a briefing for members of Congress and their aides on the economic impact of a labor dispute, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig, File)

AP

With players concerned about how the looming lockout will affect health insurance for themselves and their families, the NFL Players’ Association today gave players some information about what they’ll need to do to keep insurance beyond March 4.

A league source tells PFT that today’s conference call was primarily about the federal COBRA law that will give players the ability to keep their insurance by paying their full premiums for up to 18 months.

Two weeks ago the league sent a letter to player agents about COBRA, in an effort to correct what the league called “misinformation,” including “suggestions that wives of players need to induce labor prematurely to give birth before March 4, that children with serious illnesses will lose their insurance coverage overnight, or other equally inaccurate and inflammatory statements.”

Today it was the union’s turn to address the issue directly with the players, or at least however many players were interested enough to make the conference call.