National Basketball Players Association Unanimously Votes to Fund Health Insurance for Former Players

The NBA continues to be one of the most progressive leagues in professional American sports. First, there was the All-Star Game withdrawal from North Carolina over discriminatory transgender laws, and now their player union announced that they will be providing extensive health care for the NBA's retired players. Player representatives from across the league voted unanimously to pay for health insurance for retired NBA players with at least three "years of service" in the league, the National Basketball Players Association announced yesterday.

The NBPA is heralding the program—run through UnitedHealthcare—as "the first of its kind among North American sports," and its benefits certainly seem to beat out the competition. The NFL, for comparison, has their own post-retirement health care program, where players are only covered for five years after serving for three seasons or more in a sport where they risk serious injuries that often only show symptoms many years down the line. While the NBPA didn't announce a timeline for how long their coverage lasts, they have set up an elaborate tier system that in some cases even covers retired players' whole families.

Here's their breakdown:

• Retired players with between three and six years of NBA service time but who are not yet eligible for Medicare would be offered a plan that includes medical, hospital and prescription drug coverage with modest out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-pays;
• Those with between seven and nine years of service would be offered the same coverage with even lower out-of-pocket costs;
• Retired players with at least ten years of service would be offered the same coverage as the seven-to-nine-year players, and would include coverage for their entire family;
• Retired players with three to nine years of service who are eligible for Medicare would be offered a $0 deductible and $0 co-pay plan along with a low-cost prescription drug plan; those with ten+ years of service to receive this coverage for themselves and their spouse.
• The open enrollment period for retired players would begin this fall, with coverage beginning on January 1, 2017.

"I couldn't be more proud of Chris, our Executive Committee and our entire membership," NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said in the statement. "Providing health care security for players who came before them has been on the players' minds for the past year and they worked closely with us to make it happen."