Public Health
Free healthcare, ‘Like, what?’
A US Olympian has taken up the mantle of being a champion for free healthcare in her own country after her experiences at the Paris Olympics.
US rugby sevens player Ariana Ramsay was happy to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, but she was completely blown away by the free healthcare at the athletes’ village that she was able to access for the first time.
During her stay she got a pap smear, a free eye and dental exam and a free pair of prescription glasses.
All this she documented in a Tik Tok video that went viral and which was picked up by French media outlets.
“The fact that I am so excited to be getting free dental is crazy,” Ariana said in a follow-up video. “This is going to be my new fight for action – free healthcare in America.”
Healthcare in the US is projected to have cost $4.8 trillion in 2023. Per person, this amounts to an estimated
$14,423 in 2023 with a projected rise to $15,074 in 2024.
In France, which has a high-quality universal health care system, that number was estimated to have been $5,740 per person.
“America needs to do better with their healthcare system because there’s no way why me, an American girl, should be so amazed by free healthcare,” Ariana said.