The tennis star’s comeback wasn’t about trophies. It was about health insurance.
Venus Williams just came back from a 16-month break from professional tennis. But she didn’t return because she missed playing – rather, she missed her health insurance.
“I had to come back for the insurance,” Williams, 45, said this week after beating Peyton Stearns – 22 years her junior – at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C.
“They informed me this year that I’m on COBRA, so it’s like, I got to get my benefits on,” she said, while laughing, after her match.
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, known as COBRA, is a federal law that allows employees and their families to temporarily maintain their employer-sponsored health-insurance coverage after leaving a job.
Some fans may think that because professional athletes in sports like tennis and golf are considered independent contractors, they don’t get health insurance. But in the case of the Women’s Tennis Association, the governing body that regulates the women’s tour, players can get insurance.
The WTA has an insurance plan that offers global medical, dental and vision coverage. However, there are some eligibility requirements.
“Player members that are eligible for such access to health insurance must be inside the rankings of 500 in singles or 175 in doubles and have played a minimum of three WTA 250-level and above events, including Grand Slams, in the last year,” a WTA spokesperson told MarketWatch.
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Williams’s recent match was the first one she has played this year. The only woman older than she is now to win a tour-level singles match was Martina Navratilova, whose last triumph came in 2004 at age 47.
Williams was once the No. 1 ranked women’s payer in the world and has made $42.6 million playing professional tennis.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average annual health-insurance premium in 2023 was $8,435 for one person and $23,968 for a family. A family’s premium has increased, on average, by 22% since 2018 and by 47% since 2013.
Meanwhile, the average 65-year-old now needs $165,000 in after-tax dollars to cover healthcare expenses during retirement, up 5% from 2023, according to the latest data from Fidelity.
While Williams’s comments were likely tongue in cheek, they do highlight how expensive and confusing navigating the healthcare system can be.
Williams has revealed publicly that she had a years-long struggle with uterine fibroids, a condition for which she ultimately underwent surgery.
“You guys know what it’s like. Let me tell you, I’m always at the doctor’s, so I need this insurance,” she told a crowd of fans in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
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-Weston Blasi
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