American rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsey will leave Paris with more than just a bronze medal. After discovering that the Olympic Village not only offers free food to athletes, but also a host of free healthcare options, she will return home having had a free pap smear, eye exam and dental exam. She even walked away with a free pair of prescription glasses. To quote her comment, which has now gone viral, TikTok video“As, that?”
The Olympic Village, where athletes reside during the Games, began offering free medical care in 1932, according to Sports IllustratedSI also reported that the village offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology and podiatry, and dermatology is also offered to the Paralympic athletes, who will arrive next week.
In the United States, health care is covered by private insurance that often requires customers to pay out of pocket up to a deductible, plus copays and coinsurance costs, with additional fees if the doctor is out of network. These expenses often make even basic medical care, such as gynecological checkups, prohibitively expensive for many Americans, and Ramsey has spent the last week chronicling her experience with free health care on TikTok.
“America needs to improve its healthcare system because there is no way I, an American girl, would be that surprised by free healthcare,” she said.
Ramsey, who was part of history in Paris when his team won the U.S.’s first Olympic rugby sevens medal.She is also a certified personal trainer. Her enthusiasm for free care and the ease with which it is distributed has sparked a heated debate on her social media, with some pointing out that it is not “free” since someone else is paying for it, and others calling it “just embarrassing” for America.
Health care in the U.S. is estimated to cost $4.8 trillion by 2023, according to recently released data. federal datasurpassing the country’s GDP. Per person, this amounts to an estimated $14,423 in 2023 with a projected increase to $15,074 in 2024. In France, the host country of the 2024 Games, that figure was My dear would have been $5,740 per capita in 2020.
By the end of the Paralympics in September, more than 22,000 athletes will have stayed in the Olympic Village, many of whom will have enjoyed access to the free healthcare on offer. Since making her first TikTok to raise awareness of the Olympic Village clinic, Ramsey said healthcare workers have thanked her for her positive message and are recognising her on the street. The experience has inspired a new passion in her.
“I am officially a free healthcare advocate,” Ramsey said after finishing a dental appointment. “This will be my new fight for action: free healthcare in America. Period.”
Ramsey began playing rugby in high school, where she also excelled in track, wrestling and field hockey. She continued to play rugby in college at Dartmouth, where she was co-captain. She also represented the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics, where her team reached the quarterfinals.