‘Like, what?’: USA’s Ariana Ramsey blown away by #free #healthcare at Olympics
In the US Patients often pay out of pocket for appointments
The US rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsey will leave Paris with more than just a bronze medal.
After discovering the Olympic Village provides not only
free food to athletes
but also a suite of free healthcare options,
she will be heading home having completed
a pap smear
and a free eye
and dental exam.
She even snagged a free pair of prescription glasses.
To quote her now-viral TikTok video, “Like, what?”
The Olympic Village
– where athletes reside during the Games
– began offering free medical care in 1932, according to Sports Illustrated.
In the US, healthcare is covered by #private #insurance that often requires customers to
pay out of pocket until a deductible is reached,
as well as copays and co-insurance costs,
with
extra fees incurred if a doctor is "out of network."
These expenses frequently make even basic healthcare such as gynaecology check-ups #prohibitively #expensive,
and Ramsey has spent the last week chronicling her experience with free healthcare on TikTok
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/09/ariana-ramsey-free-healthcare-usa-olympic-village-paris-rugby?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other