WASHINGTON — Venus Williams made headlines for becoming the second-oldest woman to ever win a tour-level singles match this week in Washington, a story we’ve already covered here at Bounces this week.

But in the days since Venus’ win, I was fascinated to see an unlikely sector where her post-victory remarks made prominent waves and headlines: healthcare and health insurance.

Near the end of her on-court interview with Rennae Stubbs on Tuesday night, Venus brought up her health insurance status nearly unprompted.

“I came back—I had to come back for the insurance, because they informed me earlier this year I’m on COBRA,” Venus said, making a shocked face and laughing as Stubbs ducked out of frame to laugh. “So I was like, I got to get my benefits on! Started training.”

(COBRA, which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, is a temporary insurance program for people who are no longer on their recent employer’s health program, which has higher costs than what the person would have paid while a current employee.)

“She’s actually not lying about that,” Stubbs, herself a former player, confirmed on court. “Because we talked about that about six years ago, so you’re actually telling the truth—insurance is hard.”

“I’m on COBRA,” Venus reiterated. “You guys know what it’s like. And let me tell you: I’m always at the doctor, so I need this insurance.”

Venus brought the topic up again in her post-match press conference when asked how far she thought she could advance in the tournament.

“Well, I’m just trying to figure out how many wins will it take before I’m off COBRA,” Venus said, smiling. “I haven’t asked the WTA yet, but I gotta just keep winning until finally my insurance kicks back in, so.”

A Serious Topic, Through Laughter

The American model of tethering healthcare access and affordability to employment status is rare (and bad!), and that even a multi-millionaire like Venus Williams was framing her return to work around a need for healthcare coverage was striking for many.

Venus Williams on court Thursday in Washington. ((Wick Photography / Mubadala Citi DC Open)

Venus’ comments were used to spark conversations on all sorts of American news media outlets—ABC, NPR, People, The Washington Post and more.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, classified as “left-wing” for stances that would be seen as centrist abroad, used Venus’s comments as further evidence in his crusade for greater healthcare access and affordability.

“If a wealthy professional athlete needs to come out of retirement to afford to see a doctor, how is our health care system impacting millions of working-class Americans?” Sanders’ account tweeted.

To be clear, Venus Williams can probably afford nearly any bill she’s facing, even with COBRA: with earnings of $42,648,578, Venus is second all-time on the WTA Prize Money leaderboard, behind only her sister Serena’s $94,816,730. Venus has probably earned even more than that eight-digit prize money total through endorsements and other business ventures over her long career.

But still, high medical bills can be shocking for anyone, and Venus’s medical issues over the years have been well-documented, including her struggles in recent years with the uterine fibroids she had surgically removed last year.

I had two questions I wanted to answer as the talk about Venus’s health insurance status grew in volume: how tongue-in-cheek was she being about her comments suggesting health insurance was a primary motivator for her return to tennis? And how does health insurance work for active and retired tennis players?

After her second-round loss on Thursday, I asked Venus to clarify and for her thoughts on the wider topic and conversation which she had joined.

Venus laughed and smiled when I asked her if healthcare really had been a “main motivating factor” in her comeback to the tour, and later said it was “a fun and funny moment,” which I think confirms her statement should be taken with a grain of salt for context. But even though Venus is generally loathe to discuss any overtly political topic, she reiterated that the broader issue of affordable medical care is a serious one.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Your comments after your first singles win about the healthcare stuff generated a bunch of coverage of that and people talking about that. Could you clarify how serious or tongue-in-cheek that was about that being a main motivating factor for you coming back to tennis? Venus Williams: Oh! (laughs) Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: Because some people took it literally. And I wonder if you appreciate from this new experience like the importance of healthcare in people’s lives? A lot of people really do have to rely on work to get the healthcare they need. Venus Williams: Yeah. I mean, nobody wants to be on COBRA, right? That remains an issue in my life. But obviously healthcare is so important and access to healthcare and being able to see the right and the best doctors for whatever you’re going through. I have had that opportunity. I had that opportunity last year to see, in my opinion, the best doctor ever. That was all possible because, you know, I had insurance. Without that, the bills are quite hefty. So it is a serious issue. Obviously it’s a fun and funny moment, but it’s an issue that people are dealing with, so it is serious.

How Health Insurance Works for Tennis Players

I reached out to both the WTA and ATP to find out more about how health insurance works for their players. Tennis players are often talked about as “independent contractors,” and independent contractors rarely receive healthcare coverage from their employers, but both tours do provide health care for the players who qualify as being “members” of the WTA or ATP.

WTA

Here’s what the WTA responded with:

All player members have the opportunity to enroll in a best-in-class global medical, dental and vision insurance plan

Player members are notified of their eligibility status following the year-end ranking release in order to enroll for the following year

The insurance plan is provided on an annual basis – Jan 1 – Dec 31

Players who are no longer eligible for membership (based on ranking) but were previously on the plan have access to the health insurance plan under COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) for up to 18 months

According to its rulebook, the WTA healthcare provider is Aetna Global PPO. The WTA further clarified when I followed up about requirements to be a “player member”:

If a player falls out of the current rankings of Top 150 Singles or Top 50 Doubles for Full Membership, they drop down to Associate Membership.

If they fall out of Associate Membership that means that they have not played at least 3 WTA 250 level event or higher (including GS) in the last 12 months and are not ranked inside top 500 singles or 175 doubles.

ATP

Though only the WTA coverage would be relevant to Venus, I was curious how the ATP side compared.

Here’s what the ATP provided when I inquired:

ATP player members are grouped as follows: Group 1 (Top 250 Singles, Top 50 Doubles) and Group 2 (all other players with a ranking point). Group 1 membership includes: Basic health insurance (with the option to purchase enhanced coverage). Includes limited coverage on dental and prescriptions. Life insurance (automatically included within health insurance package) Travel insurance (for travel to and from activities related to professional tennis)

Group 2 players are eligible to purchase health insurance (basic or enhanced) through ATP’s insurance provider.

When I asked about how it works for retired players, the ATP responded that “Currently alumni members can continue their coverage for up to 3 years (paid by the player through COBRA).”

According to one recently retired American ATP player I chatted about this topic with, the ATP uses Cigna as its health insurance provider, and the coverage is pretty robust, including for a player’s dependents.

Admittedly, the particulars of employer-provided healthcare was a pretty foreign topic to me as I set out writing this piece, since I have been freelance/self-employed for my entire journalistic career, and have just been on Obamacare. So if you’re ever inclined to help defray those or other bills—and keep the work I’m doing here at Bounces going strong—I appreciate you subscribing!

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For more on the tennis this week in Washington DC, I was delighted to be joined by The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace for the latest episode of No Challenges Remaining.