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universal healthcare
US Medalist's Experience of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village Bolsters Case for Medicare for All
"In the Olympic Village in Paris, everyone has free healthcare as a human right. In America, 1 in 4 cancer patients go bankrupt or lose their homes because of the outrageously high cost of care."
Aug 09, 2024
U.S. Olympic rugby player Ariana Ramsey became a sensation on social media this week after documenting a series of free healthcare visits in the Olympic Village in Paris and becoming an advocate for universal care in her home country.
Ramsey's initial TikTok video, published Saturday, went viral in France after she expressed disbelief about the free healthcare on offer, playing into the European idea that Americans—who live in the only high-income country in the world without universal care—don't know what they are missing.
"I literally just got a pap smear—for free," Ramsey, who won a bronze medal last week, said. "And I have a dentist appointment, and an eye exam next week. Like, what!?"
@ariana.ramsey I quite literally love it here. The way the Olympic village has free healthcare, but America doesn’t😣 #o#olympicso#olympicvillageo#olympiant#teamusar#rugbyb#bronzemedalist ♬ original sound - Ari Ramsey
The Olympic Village polyclinic offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and sports medicine—all free of charge to athletes, according toSports Illustrated. The tradition of free healthcare for athletes dates back nearly a century.
Ramsey, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania who played rugby at Dartmouth College, said in a video that "there's no reason why me, an American girl, should be so amazed by free healthcare."
In a separate post on Monday, recording while sitting in a dentist's chair, Ramsey said, "This is going to be my new fight for action, free healthcare in America. Period."
She now describes herself as a "universal free healthcare advocate" in her TikTok bio.
Medicare for All advocates argued that everyone in the U.S. should have the same access to healthcare that athletes have at the Olympics.
"In the Olympic Village in Paris, everyone has free healthcare as a human right," Warren Gunnels, a top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and a staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, wrote on social media. "In America, 1 in 4 cancer patients go bankrupt or lose their homes because of the outrageously high cost of care and 68,000 die a year because they can't afford healthcare. Yes. We need Medicare for All."
Many Olympians have other jobs to pay the bills. Ramsey, for example, is a certified personal trainer. The U.S. is one of the only countries that doesn't directly fund its Olympic athletes, according toVoice of America.
"U.S. Olympians are using their trip to the Olympics to get the basic preventative healthcare they can't afford to get in the U.S.," Melanie D'Arrigo, the executive director of Campaign for New York Health, wrote on social media. "We should be embarrassed that we're the only industrialized country without universal healthcare—all because lobbyists pay off our politicians."
If Ramsey's newfound role as a political campaigner comes as a surprise, it's not the first for her in Paris: the U.S. women's team had never before medaled in rugby, and the last U.S. men's medal was 100 years ago.
The result came in stunning fashion. Down to Australia in the final seconds of the bronze medal match, Ramsey got the ball and threw it to teammate Alex Sedrick, who made a miraculous run the length of the field to tie the game just as time expired, and then converted a kick to win the game.
THE MOST CLUTCH TRY IN @USARugby HISTORY 😱
Spiff Sedrick wins it for Team USA in the final seconds!#ParisOlympicspic.twitter.com/lml8fLVmsn
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 30, 2024
For Ramsey, the bronze medal likely means she'll receive a bonus of $15,000 from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. She's also tried to maximize the medical benefits of being an Olympian in Paris, visiting a gynecologist, dentist, and ophthalmologist.
Back home, medical services won't be as accessible, at least not for many Americans. There were more than 25 million non-elderly uninsured people in the U.S. as of 2022, according to KFF, a health policy research nonprofit. Even a routine pap smear can cost $125 to $250 for an uninsured person. U.S. spending on health care exceeds any other high-income country and yet its health outcomes are consistently the worst among peer nations.
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US Medalist's Experience of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village Bolsters Case for Medicare for All
"In the Olympic Village in Paris, everyone has free healthcare as a human right. In America, 1 in 4 cancer patients go bankrupt or lose their homes because of the outrageously high cost of care."
Aug 09, 2024
U.S. Olympic rugby player Ariana Ramsey became a sensation on social media this week after documenting a series of free healthcare visits in the Olympic Village in Paris and becoming an advocate for universal care in her home country.
Ramsey's initial TikTok video, published Saturday, went viral in France after she expressed disbelief about the free healthcare on offer, playing into the European idea that Americans—who live in the only high-income country in the world without universal care—don't know what they are missing.
"I literally just got a pap smear—for free," Ramsey, who won a bronze medal last week, said. "And I have a dentist appointment, and an eye exam next week. Like, what!?"
@ariana.ramsey I quite literally love it here. The way the Olympic village has free healthcare, but America doesn’t😣 #o#olympicso#olympicvillageo#olympiant#teamusar#rugbyb#bronzemedalist ♬ original sound - Ari Ramsey
The Olympic Village polyclinic offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and sports medicine—all free of charge to athletes, according toSports Illustrated. The tradition of free healthcare for athletes dates back nearly a century.
Ramsey, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania who played rugby at Dartmouth College, said in a video that "there's no reason why me, an American girl, should be so amazed by free healthcare."
In a separate post on Monday, recording while sitting in a dentist's chair, Ramsey said, "This is going to be my new fight for action, free healthcare in America. Period."
She now describes herself as a "universal free healthcare advocate" in her TikTok bio.
Medicare for All advocates argued that everyone in the U.S. should have the same access to healthcare that athletes have at the Olympics.
"In the Olympic Village in Paris, everyone has free healthcare as a human right," Warren Gunnels, a top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and a staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, wrote on social media. "In America, 1 in 4 cancer patients go bankrupt or lose their homes because of the outrageously high cost of care and 68,000 die a year because they can't afford healthcare. Yes. We need Medicare for All."
Many Olympians have other jobs to pay the bills. Ramsey, for example, is a certified personal trainer. The U.S. is one of the only countries that doesn't directly fund its Olympic athletes, according toVoice of America.
"U.S. Olympians are using their trip to the Olympics to get the basic preventative healthcare they can't afford to get in the U.S.," Melanie D'Arrigo, the executive director of Campaign for New York Health, wrote on social media. "We should be embarrassed that we're the only industrialized country without universal healthcare—all because lobbyists pay off our politicians."
If Ramsey's newfound role as a political campaigner comes as a surprise, it's not the first for her in Paris: the U.S. women's team had never before medaled in rugby, and the last U.S. men's medal was 100 years ago.
The result came in stunning fashion. Down to Australia in the final seconds of the bronze medal match, Ramsey got the ball and threw it to teammate Alex Sedrick, who made a miraculous run the length of the field to tie the game just as time expired, and then converted a kick to win the game.
THE MOST CLUTCH TRY IN @USARugby HISTORY 😱
Spiff Sedrick wins it for Team USA in the final seconds!#ParisOlympicspic.twitter.com/lml8fLVmsn
— Team USA (@TeamUSA) July 30, 2024
For Ramsey, the bronze medal likely means she'll receive a bonus of $15,000 from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. She's also tried to maximize the medical benefits of being an Olympian in Paris, visiting a gynecologist, dentist, and ophthalmologist.
Back home, medical services won't be as accessible, at least not for many Americans. There were more than 25 million non-elderly uninsured people in the U.S. as of 2022, according to KFF, a health policy research nonprofit. Even a routine pap smear can cost $125 to $250 for an uninsured person. U.S. spending on health care exceeds any other high-income country and yet its health outcomes are consistently the worst among peer nations.
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Former US Lawmaker Finally Enjoys Social Policies He Fought for—In Europe
"I saw and felt what it's like to live in a community where everyone can go to the doctor. Where children aren't massacred by gun violence. It changes everything."
Mar 28, 2024
A former U.S. lawmaker who spent nearly half a century fighting for a nation that would have universal healthcare coverage and less gun violence is finally living in such a place—but he had to retire and move to Europe to find it.
In recent interviews with Roll Call and The Washington Post, former Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott, who also served in the Washington state Legislature, discussed life in France and the threat of former GOP President Donald Trump, who is set to face Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
"It was like I walked through an invisible door," McDermott told the Post's Elizabeth Becker about going to France. "Now I saw and felt what it's like to live in a community where everyone can go to the doctor. Where children aren't massacred by gun violence. It changes everything."
McDermott visited Civrac-en-Médoc in 2017, the same year he retired from Congress, and quickly bought a stone cottage. The 87-year-old keeps a residence in Seattle and remains an American—he is a member of Democrats Abroad and plans to vote for Biden. However, he largely lives in the rural French village, where he "doesn't need to lock his doors at night" and "loves that kids in the neighborhood don't worry about gun violence," as Roll Call's Ariel Cohen reported Wednesday.
"I spent 16 years in the Washington state Legislature trying to get single-payer healthcare. Then I spent nearly 30 years in Congress trying to get single-payer. Then I came to France and in three months I had single-payer. Was that mind-blowing? You bet."
France—which requires a psychological test for a gun license—has a population of about 68 million and each year sees 3.23 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 people, according to World Population Review. The United States, home to over 333 million, has 10.84 gun deaths per 100,000 people and mass shootings are on the rise.
During his decades on Capitol Hill, McDermott, a psychiatrist, supported stricter U.S. gun laws and nationwide universal healthcare. While progressives including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) continue the battle for Medicare for All in Congress, McDermott is experiencing France's full coverage system, which was built over seven decades.
"The system covers most costs for hospital, physician, and long-term care, as well as prescription drugs; patients are responsible for coinsurance, copayments, and balance bills for physician charges that exceed covered fees," according to the Commonwealth Fund. "The insurance system is funded primarily by payroll taxes (paid by employers and employees), a national income tax, and tax levies on certain industries and products."
McDermott told Cohen "I spent 16 years in the Washington state Legislature trying to get single-payer healthcare. Then I spent nearly 30 years in Congress trying to get single-payer. Then I came to France and in three months I had single-payer. Was that mind-blowing? You bet."
As Cohen detailed:
When he arrived in France, he needed to fill a few prescriptions but didn't have a French primary care doctor. The pharmacist looked at his empty pill bottles and refilled them, no questions asked. When McDermott finally got a French physician, he received a brand-new CPAP machine at no cost. A month later, someone came to make sure it was working properly.
"Coming to France is like a drink of cold water," he says. "Once you've had this experience, it's easy to see all the ways in the U.S. you're getting screwed—well, not screwed per se, but definitely overcharged."
McDermott's first electoral win was tied to healthcare—specifically, his support for abortion rights. He was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in November 1970, the same election in which the state's voters legalized abortion, three years before the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court's right-wing majority—including three Trump appointees—overturned Roe, sparking a fresh wave of forced pregnancy bills across the nation. Meanwhile, the French Parliament earlier this month enshired abortion rights in France's constitution.
"The whole country stood up and said, 'Up your ass, we're not going your way, America,'" McDermott said of the French vote. "People have realized America is not the place you want to be on everything."
While U.S. legislators in over 20 states have imposed new restrictions on reproductive healthcare since the fall of Roe, Trump—who's now signaling his support for Christian nationalism by hawking $60 patriotic-themed Bibles—and many congressional Republicans are pushing for a 15-week federal abortion ban and various other far-right policies.
From France, Becker noted, McDermott keeps tabs on U.S. politics, conversing with friends and politicians, sending money to campaigns, and warning people against a Trump win in November.
According to the former war correspondent:
In private conversations with McDermott, they wonder how to gauge the seriousness of Trump's increasingly dire threats to the country's democratic underpinnings and, potentially, to them and their families. "I get calls from my friends now who say they are scared to do what I did but are scared to stay."
He tells them: "If you can afford it, buy a second home in France, or Spain, or Portugal, wherever… a second home that could become a safe house."
Still, McDermott has some hope for his home country's future, telling Cohen: "I still vote, I still got my house in Seattle. Just because I don't live there doesn't mean I've given up on the United States."
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