Completely disagree. It's all about choices. Nobody is forcing them to play football & put their body in danger. They know the dangers especially now. They choose to play football & most likely choose to play football for the potential life style. In making that choice, which is typically 3-10 years, that life style doesn't last forever. They should be smart with their money & have a plan after football. The NFL shouldn't be responsible for paying their health insurance for the next 20-70 years of their lives. The players get far more out of the NFL during their playing days than the NFL gets out of them (I can't believe I'm taking up for the NFL). When they "retire" from football between 28-35 years old their lives aren't over. They still have 30+ years of employment ahead of them.
You can go back and forth on this issue, and I actually think there are legit points to be made on both sides, but put me on the side who thinks that the NFL and NFLPA need to work out an agreement in which all players are given lifetime access to a group health insurance pool. And there are a lot of ways that the NFL and NFLPA can work this out to make it better than just "players have health insurance, done."
A pool that includes, for instance, League and club employees to spread help defray the cost for everyone would be a really attractive benefit for the League / teams to offer employees while giving players a huge benefit. I know it's not just that easy, thanks to absurd laws that prohibit the sale of insurance medical insurance policies across state lines, but... there are ways to work that out. It can be done.
It's just one of those cases where I actually think the NFLPA deserves some of the blame. They are willing to give up a lot just to have a higher share of revenues for the salary cap. They gotta understand that if you want a revenue-funded pension or health care system, that both the League and the Players' Association are going to have to budge. I do think that De Smith, even though he got a big chunk of the pie for the players in the last CBA, has kind of done the players a disservice in the long run by focusing exclusively on that.