Smart move by them.

Be the top player of the world and you too can enjoy a trial period of free health care.

A 2022 study by The Commonwealth Fund found that the U.S. is the only high-income country without universal healthcare. Many American athletes do have access to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s health insurance policy. But their eligibility for the program is up to their sport’s governing body, and an independent commission appointed by Congress found that “some of the most talented competitors under our flag go to sleep at night under the roof of a car or without sufficient food or adequate health insurance.” More than a quarter of U.S. athletes report earning less than $15,000 per year, and more than 40% said they paid out of pocket for healthcare, with an average cost of $9,200 per person. Only 16% said they’d been reimbursed.

Because the U.S. is one of three countries whose elite athletes receive no government funding, athletes know that they need to find opportunities to build their brands to try to earn enough money to continue competing. Ramsey, for example, came to the Olympics planning to focus on both rugby and making videos, because, she says, “The only other job for women in sports, really, is social media.”

from the article: https://www.si.com/olympics/american-athletes-taking-full-advantage-of-free-healthcare-olympic-village-france

Imagine the kinds of things that even top athletes wouldn’t care to bring to the attention of doctors or dont get treated because of the cost hurdle. Imagine extending that to the entirety of the American population. Most of medical costs in america are because of the privatization of health care, administration overhead and artificially inflated costs.

Its insane to me that people who are incompetent, especially at their own jobs, can get paid orders of magnitude higher than skilled workers. I did jury duty recently and in the case, the VP of a nursing facility was getting paid in excess of 200k and had the gall to claim they did everything by the book in a negligence case (they did not) and constantly failed to answer the attorney’s questions properly (she’d always answer a different question than what was asked, refuse to answer yes/no, contradict clear facts about what was on the page in front of her). Not sure who she thought she was fooling. Attorney literally had to ask her if they were looking at the same paper because she was in a different world. Its people like that that keep our healthcare system so expensive that people cant afford to survive.

I have no doubt that people will fight tooth and nail to keep their trashy privatized health care - let them. Its just stupid to me that they refuse to allow lower cost health care of the same quality by the government. My brother in christ you could use it too if you stopped fighting for it to not get passed

At her teeth cleaning, they did an X-ray. She paid for none of it. “They really go above and beyond,” she says.

No, they really don’t. This should be normal. Then again, dental care is privatised in a lot of countries who otherwise have “free” healthcare, so in a way a lot of people are in the same boat as Americans. Ever since I moved to a country where I have to pay for every dental treatment I find myself distrusting the dentists opinion if that procedure really is necessary or not. They profit directly from it, why not add some stuff that’s not needed? Considering how important your teeth are for your quality of life, I hate to be in that situation.