Who wants to pay more taxes to improve public health care?

ABSTRACT

We study the factors that influence willingness to pay to improve public health care in 29 post-communist countries, Eastern and Southern Europe, and Eurasia using 2 up-to-date cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2010 and 2016 (N = 34 768). Three hypotheses received full degree of support through empirical analysis: increase in satisfaction with health care, university education, and higher level of wealth positively associated with willingness to pay in all regions. In comparison, having a higher level social trust and adhering to left-leaning ideological position strengthens support for public health care in Southern Europe and Eurasia only, while having a higher level of institutional trust strengthens support for public health care in Eastern Europe and Eurasia only.