The Best Thing About the Olympic Village Is the Free Preventive Health Care

US rugby player Ariana Ramsey received a Pap smear, had a dentist appointment, and got an eye exam.

August 8, 2024

Screenshots of US rugby player Ariana Ramsey's TikToks about health care in the Olympic Village.

Besides winning medals, the Olympics is—for most athletes—a time to meet other sports champs they’ve always idolized, explore a new city, or maybe devour more chocolate muffins than their stomachs can handle. While all of these things may be true for US rugby player Ariana Ramsey, the 24-year-old had another goal in mind for this year’s Games: Get as much free health care as possible.

Since earning the bronze with her team in a match against Australia—the first medal in rugby sevens for the US—Ramsey has been on “vacation” in the Olympic Village, and she’s having the time of her life documenting it all on TikTok. In between her muffin reviews (spoiler: they’re delicious) and moments spent lounging in the beach club for athletes, Ramsey is getting all sorts of medical appointments done within the Olympic Village at absolutely no cost to her—which is pretty much unheard of in the US, even for people with private insurance.

According to her TikToks, Ramsey received a Pap smear (a procedure that involves collecting cells from the cervix to check for signs of cervical cancer), had a dentist appointment, and got an eye exam—plus new glasses that she received just 30 minutes later! “I’m truly amazed,” she said in the video. In the US, if you don’t have insurance, a Pap smear could run you about $130; a dental cleaning with X-rays could cost a whopping $300; and an eye exam could reach $200, which does not include any glasses or contacts you might need. “America needs to do better with their health care system,” Ramsey said in one video. “There is no reason why me, an American girl, should be so amazed by [this].”

During her eye exam, Ramsey said the doctor even recognized her because of how viral her medical visit videos have become within French media. In fact, she has become so tight with the medical staff there that she even convinced them to participate in a silly TikTok.

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A Paris 2024 spokesperson tells SELF that the organizing committee is covering the costs of medical services offered to all the athletes “and their companions” with help from volunteer health professionals, so they don’t have to pay a thing. Not only does this keep the athletes as healthy as possible during their time in Paris, but it also helps “prevent an overload of the public health system.” So while Ramsey’s spree of appointments has nothing to do with the fact that France has universal health care, the stress-free experience has inspired her to study the medical systems in different countries and push for necessary change when she returns to the US. “I’m excited to continue to learn about how we can get universal health care across the board!” Ramsey tells SELF.

Put simply, universal health care means that people are guaranteed the medical services they need regardless of their ability to pay for it and “without risk of financial hardship,” but that “does not mean it’s always free,” Reginald Williams, vice president of International Health Policy and Practice Innovations with the Commonwealth Fund, an organization that supports research to improve America’s health care system, tells SELF. In France, for example, the medical system covers most hospital, long-term care, and prescription drug costs, but people are responsible for coinsurance and copayments.

For a lot of Americans, though, such an arrangement can certainly feel free, or at least much more convenient, because health care in the US is notoriously expensive, unreliable, and complicated to navigate. For example, “basic preventive care like what Ariana is describing, particularly dental care and eye exams, are part of health coverage in France,” Williams says, “but in the US, dental and eye coverage are often separate.”

A 2021 study of 11 high-income nations, including Australia, France, Germany, Canada, and the UK, among others, concluded that the US—which was the only country surveyed without universal health insurance coverage—ranks last overall in providing accessible, affordable, and high-quality health care. In fact, 38% of US adults reported that they didn’t receive their recommended medical care in the past year because it was too expensive, which is more than four times the rates for people in Norway and the Netherlands. The US, compared to other high-income nations, also has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean you can fly to France or any other country with universal health care and finally fill your cavities at little to no cost. Any medical services you get abroad won’t be covered by their insurance system, Williams says, although prices will still generally be cheaper than those in the US. Instead, you can sign up for travel health insurance if you want it, which you can get either through your insurance provider if you have one or via a separate short-term policy.

While there’s plenty of room for improvement within the US health care system, Paralympic sitting volleyball player Nicky Nieves tells SELF that staying in the Olympic Village for the 2016 Rio Games actually made her recognize how privileged she was to have access to her care in the US.

“In the Village, there’s a medical clinic, dentists, and a prosthetic company. For a lot of [athletes in] other countries, this will be their only opportunity for access,” says Nieves, who was born without a left hand. “You’ll see long lines for the prosthetist to get something fixed or fitted. It could be that someone’s leg hasn’t fit for years but they’ve just been competing with it because they don’t have any other option. Now that they’re at the Games, it gets resolved.”

The eye-opening experience has given her a unique perspective that she wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for the Paralympics, she adds: “Seeing things like that is really grounding.”

SELF is your one-click source for all things Summer Olympics. Read our latest coverage of the Paris Games here.