With growing concern over the long-term effects of concussions and mTBI sustained by NFL players, as of May 25, 2012, eighty-one lawsuits had been filed with 2,138 former NFL players as plaintiffs, and 3,356 plaintiffs that included players, their spouses and other relatives. On June 7, 2012 a mega-suit, bringing these and others together, was filed in US District Court. The mega-suit stated that “after voluntarily assuming a duty to investigate, study, and truthfully report to the public and NFL players, including the Plaintiffs, the medical risks associated with MTBI in football, the NFL instead produced industry-funded, biased, and falsified research that falsely claimed that concussive and sub-concussive head impacts in football do not present serious, life-altering risks.” 

In response, the NFL released statements about many health programs run by the NFL for current and former players, along with medical benefits available to former players, including joint and traumatic arthritic-related programs such as joint replacement, and neurological evaluations and spine treatment programs. In addition, the NFL provides assisted-living partnerships, long-term care insurance, prescription benefits, life insurance programs, and a Medicare supplement program. The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, created by the NFL in 1994, recently published a general neurologic medicine article on Medscape entitled Repetitive Head Injury Syndrome.