Earlier this summer, U.S. womens rugby team player Ariana Ramsey came home from the 2024 Paris Olympics with more than just a bronze medal. She also returned with a pair of free eyeglasses and a new TikTok bio that read: Universal Free Healthcare Advocate.

Following her teams victory against Australia, the 24-year-old Olympian went viral on TikTok by documenting her experience receiving completely free healthcare in the Olympic Village. Ramsey had dental and vision exams, as well as a pap smear.

Of course, Im amazed. We dont have free healthcare in America, she said in a video responding to peoples comments about her excitement for the complimentary services. So, yeah, Im amazed by free healthcare.

Most of us mere mortals will never see the inside of an Olympic Village, let alone partake in its medical practitioner perks. But Ramseys experience reflects a phenomenon that many people are participating in: medical tourism. American patients are traveling all over the world to undergo medical procedures, physical exams and surgeries.

One of the main reasons for medical tourism, unsurprisingly, is cost. When Anna McKitrick , a 30-year-old who hosts vegan food tours around the world, woke up one morning in July 2020 with excruciating pain in her mouth, she knew she had to do something and fast. I woke up and thought someone shot me in the face, McKitrick told HuffPost. Id never been in that much pain in my life.

She ended up having the tooth extracted in the United States but needed an implant urgently. When you extract a tooth, its a bit of a time crunch, she said. You have to put something in the empty space or it will mess up your teeth for life.

She was working as a server in Los Angeles at the time, and even with dental insurance, she was quoted $40,000 to cover the work she needed done.

McKitricks mom, who also dealt with a related problem and had a similar procedure done in Switzerland, did some research. She was referred by that Switzerland clinic to a surgeon that trained at a facility in Costa Rica.

I didnt have $40,000 to spend on my teeth, McKitrick said. After looking into it, we decided going to Costa Rica would be the best option.

Once there, she had two implants, crowns and four cavitation surgeries for a quarter of the price it would have cost in the States around $10,000.

The financial appeal is undeniable. Healthcare in the U.S. is often understandably criticized for being overpriced and overcomplicated. According to health policy organization KFF , people in the United States owe at least $220 billion in medical debt.

Its just one of the reasons medical tourism has grown in popularity both domestically and internationally, according to David Vequist, professor and founder/director of the Center for Medical Tourism Research at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

While its difficult to know the exact numbers because there are many procedures done on the gray and black market, wellness tourism by itself is estimated to be an over trillion-dollar industry, Vequist told HuffPost.

According to Patients Beyond Borders , a medical tourism guide, Mexico is the most-visited destination for medical travel, followed by Costa Rica, Thailand, Turkey and Colombia. Among the most popular procedures Patients Beyond Borders has reported on are general and complex dental work (65%), cosmetic and plastic surgery or non-invasive cosmetic treatments (15%), bariatric or weight loss treatments (5%), and fertility treatments (5%).

Mexico is such a popular destination for medical tourism that it even has dedicated border entrances specifically for medical tourists, with Vequist recalling how he once breezed through a security line with a doctor a process that can usually take hours.

But cost is not the only reason for medical tourisms popularity. People also travel to other countries for procedures that are not covered by their insurance in the United States or when something, like a medication or treatment, is not available here.

There was a time before Lasik was approved by the FDA in the United States that it was available in Mexico, so people would travel there to have the procedure done, Vequist said.