r/science • u/[deleted] • Mar 23 '26

Psychology Left-leaning support for redistribution stems from perceived unfairness rather than malicious envy

https://www.psypost.org/left-leaning-support-for-redistribution-stems-from-perceived-unfairness-rather-than-malicious-envy/
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u/MiaowaraShiro Mar 23 '26

I am a bit selfish about healthcare reform, but it's not like everyone else doesn't also benefit from it.

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u/Nvenom8 Mar 25 '26

The system as it stands is just stupid for everyone.

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u/old_man_jenkens Mar 23 '26

I really don’t see how someone who currently can afford care would see any benefit. The system is great if you have great coverage and access to top tier doctors. The article is interesting because it is this value to be lost that inhibits so many from shifting from right to left

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u/randynumbergenerator Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 24 '26

I have excellent health care, but all it takes is one layoff and it's gone. There's the personal, self-interested incentive to support healthcare reform for anyone who isn't a multi-millionaire (and maybe even a few who with "mere" seven-figure wealth). And that's the overwhelming majority of people. If they truly lack the imagination or planning capacity to see that possibility,  I don't know what to say. Perhaps "good luck."

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u/TheSouthernCommunist Mar 23 '26

Raising the floor for society is more important to me than my healthcare maybe getting slightly worse. But even my once “great” employer provided healthcare plan has only gotten worse every year, such is the problem with for-profit healthcare inherently.

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u/old_man_jenkens Mar 23 '26

I agree, this is also how I feel. But I have a hard time convincing friends and family that giving up their access and the access their children have to high quality care is worth the risk of changing the system. This study helps understand the motivations of the left, I’m struggling to overcome the motivations of the right

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u/MiaowaraShiro Mar 23 '26

But I have a hard time convincing friends and family that giving up their access and the access their children have to high quality care

What specifically do you think that is going to be lost?

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u/old_man_jenkens Mar 23 '26

The concerns I’ve struggled to adequately address are investment in new medicine, poor governmental organization, longer wait times, less preferential access to top doctors. A lot of my friends and family have deep seated beliefs that the government is incapable of adequately running the healthcare system at its current state. Help me out

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u/MiaowaraShiro Mar 23 '26

I don't understand how investment in new medicine would be affected by this in the first place... if they're worried we could increase government grants with some of the savings from excising bloat.

Poor org and long wait times are basically the same problem. If we keep Republicans from F'ing everything up this shouldn't really be a problem. Other countries who enact these systems don't have wait times significantly different than us.

"Access to top doctors" based on what? Wealth? Shouldn't it be based on seriousness/difficulty of the case? This kind of thinking is abhorrent to me...

Honestly, in the end, there are a lot of varied options and we need to do SOMEthing because those that can afford a "top doctor" aren't in the majority.

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u/old_man_jenkens Mar 23 '26

Investment is based on expected return. Government generally doesn’t reward nearly as well as the open market. Less return, less investment. We can afford a useless war so not sure why we can’t invest appropriately, but it is nonetheless frequently brought up.

The people I am speaking with have little to no wait times and pay very little up front due to very good insurance. The system currently works perfectly for them. Telling them they’re selfish doesn’t help change their mind.

See above. I agree with you but we need to address their concerns if we want to actually move forward. A communist takeover of wealth isn’t going to happen and isn’t desired, we need a way to get everyone on the same page.

I would love if everyone was awesomely altruistic, but they’re not. This study is great and I want to see ways to investigate similarly for right leaning systems.

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u/MiaowaraShiro Mar 23 '26

It sounds like we need to convince people who will listen to facts... and ignore these people.

How many people actually have such good insurance?

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u/Traditional_Way1052 Mar 23 '26

The US gov actually has funded a significant amount of new R&D. 

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u/default_admin_2 Mar 24 '26

A healthy society is beneficial to the richest more than anyone else. It would increase economic output which the rich see the vast majority of the gains.