Why The Idea Of Free Healthcare Or College Makes Us So Irrational

They say that a sip of your favorite alcoholic beverage tastes best when it’s free, but if the general rules of psychology follow, we know this not to be the case. If you numb your mind to the task at hand – first having to afford the drink, then having to go to buy the drink – you’ll likely take it for granted. This same logic is why many people may suggest that you don’t keep alcohol at home and instead only drink it when you’re out celebrating. Get it easily, or for free, and you risk losing its novelty.

Free stuff isn’t really all that free when you come to think of it. No matter what AOC-type politicians may say to the contrary, the financial burden for any free program or goods is always offloaded to someone else. In the case of wide, sweeping social programs that those politicians propose, like “Medicare for all” universal healthcare systems or free college and student loan forgiveness, the American taxpayer often has to front the cost either way.

But, shouldn’t we want everyone to have easier lives? Shouldn’t we provide our people with a sense of security? Big government lures you in with these false promises, but the “safety net” it builds has some pretty harmful gaps. The most obvious issue is the financial state of our nation when we slowly become a welfare state, but the more commonly overlooked issue is the psychological one at hand. Getting everything for free subverts the good, old-fashioned traits of human dignity and resiliency that we need in order to be a productive, motivated, independent society.

There Are Downsides (and Upsides) To Taking Things for “Free”

As a self-diagnosed fit chick, I’ve consistently had a gym membership throughout my young adult life. No matter where I’ve moved, I’ve paid to have access to some sort of gym facilities. I’m perhaps an unnaturally motivated individual (and therefore an outlier) who could find a way to get exercise anywhere, but as a general rule of thumb, I know that people buy gym memberships because it keeps them on the hook for maintaining their physical fitness. Of course, many people slip through the cracks and need motivation to even get themselves through the door, despite paying hundreds of dollars each year to simply access these adult playgrounds.

No matter if I was working out at my college gym, Fitness19, Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, or 24 Hour Fitness, I’ve always had the option of dropping into the free classes offered. At my current gym, the Silent Generation can drop into their favorite SilverSneakers or Zumba classes completely free of additional charge. If you’re a millennial looking for those CrossFit or SoulCycle experiences, most gyms that offer classes in their membership package have some sort of free equivalent.

So if those classes exist, why is it that, anecdotally, at every gym I have gone to, they have been mostly empty? Take it from the SoulCycle founders themselves: a paid subscription model to access exclusive classes is perceived as a more valuable experience. 

When you can get your classes for free, you’re far less motivated. Sure, you can have a regular gym instructor hype you up with pop music while you cycle, and you’re already paying for the subscription to the gym itself, but SoulCycle set itself apart by selling the experience – not just any old service. It’s exclusive, can’t be reproduced without effort, and therefore has more value.

That’s not to say free things lack allure. In fact, there are many instances where the prospect of “free” is a positive motivator. Duke University Professor of Behavioral Economics Dan Ariely researches this phenomenon and once co-authored a study about the “zero price effect.” 

In this study, he tested whether people were more drawn to the idea of one free Hershey’s Kiss or one $0.13 Lindt truffle. Knowing the latter is a superior product, you’d think people would pick the truffle, but more than two times as many people picked the free, lower quality chocolate.

Ariely and his team coined the concept the zero price effect which states that “people overvalue things that are free and make irrational decisions in many cases when something free is involved.” Why? Well, people are easily guided by good vibes. If it’s free, you may ignore the downsides. 

Another observation of the zero price effect made by Ariely took place when, at a party, he hired someone to tattoo partygoers for free. He watched as people who probably wouldn’t get a tattoo on a whim decided to get one anyway. Once again, since they didn’t have to pay, they acted irrationally, outside their normal behavior. 

You’ll see instances like this time and time again, especially if you’ve got a Costco membership or regularly shop somewhere that offers free samples. When grocery stores offer free samples, they usually see an increase in sales for the product. In some cases, they even see sales increase for products that weren’t sampled! Look no further than the Ziploc case study at Costco, where they sampled a new space bag (not even a tasty morsel as part of a sample-fueled lunch!), and they saw a 156% increase in product sales.

Adopting an Entitlement Mentality Is Really Quite Ugly

But, once you’ve gotten a taste of “free,” it can be rather difficult to come to terms with “paid.” One e-commerce study found that people are more likely to make unsound financial decisions if they are promised free shipping, for example. Furthermore, in a retail survey, 77% of respondents shared that they were more likely to buy a product online if they could get it shipped for free. 

The concept of “free” makes us so irrational that consumers may prefer to get a product for a lower discount (but with free shipping) than get the product for a better discount (but with paid shipping) and an overall lower price.

Consuming, receiving, or obtaining – whatever it is you get for free, it can make you act more irrationally. This is certainly the case with what happens to your mindset when you’re continually receiving things free of charge, time, or effort and therefore build up an entitlement mentality.

When you’re raised to get things for free, you end up sheltered from ordinary difficulties or life stressors associated with risk and reward that also serve to teach you critical life skills. This is similar to how we find ourselves unfulfilled by instant gratification from social media instead of getting clout from actual achievements.

It’s actually quite healthy for you to face obstacles or have to overcome adversity. Though it may be hard to stomach, it’s why you’re supposed to let a growing toddler fall sometimes or why you really shouldn’t do your kid’s homework. 

Entitlement is considered a narcissistic personality trait where people don’t think rules apply to them. They think they deserve special treatment despite having done nothing to earn it. Some psychologists think that entitlement is driven by status-seeking behaviors where people want to be perceived, and treated, as having more prestige and dominance. It’s understandable that people may naturally want to be seen as an object of envy, given evolutionary psychology suggests that a jealous response is one that increased our chances of survival.

Entitlement is a toxic mentality that festers into de facto superiority complexes and can destroy your relationships. Who wants to work with, or be friends with someone who cuts other people in line at the theme park or steals a parking space another car was already driving into? 

Neuroscience researchers believe that these exaggerated feelings of superiority may leave people chronically disappointed by unmet expectations. Entitled people become slaves to a cycle where they feel threatened by the normal unfairness of our world. These perceived injustices (which may often just be a bad roll of the dice) anger them and lead them to blame others instead of themselves. 

In a Wall Street Journal article adapted from his book The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace, writer Ron Alsop explained that young people sometimes have outlandish expectations due to being coddled by parents or nurtured by society to have this entitlement mentality.

“‘They want to be CEO tomorrow,’ is a common refrain from corporate recruiters. More than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers,” he wrote. “The generation’s greatest expectations: higher pay (74% of respondents); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%).”

Is it any wonder why a sense of entitlement is rising among younger generations at the exact same time that entitlement-based social welfare systems like free healthcare, free tuition, or federal student loan forgiveness are building in popularity?

Universal, Basic Anything Doesn’t Guarantee Universally High Quality of Services

Sweeping, nationalized health care programs (what I’d prefer to call socialized medicine) sound good on paper. Universal access to basic health needs? I’m all for equality, so why wouldn’t I be all for socialized medicine? Never mind the trillions of dollars it would cost to sustain a program like that here in the United States!

Well, if you look at Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) as a model for what we could have over here, we’d experience inferior access to health care, overcrowded waiting rooms, staffing shortages, and burdensome waiting periods just to be seen in general. Take British resident Garry Rogan, for example, who has been waiting two years for a timely triple-bypass surgery to prevent another heart attack after he suffered from a major one in April 2021.

Elie Krasne, visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, wrote in the Daily Signal about how when she moved to France, she quickly became very jaded by Europe’s “free” and idyllic health care. Rather, these government-controlled programs (that Americans look at with heart-eye emojis), like health care, daycare, or maternity leave, are taxpayer-funded by France’s “social charges.” 

On top of her already high taxes, Krasne said she pays $1,500 in mandatory social charges (not inclusive of her husband’s social charges). She also pointed out that salaries in the United States are roughly double what they are in France, so when you already have half the amount of income and twice as many taxes, you should be getting top-notch care, right? Wrong – health care in France is considered by some to be on “life support.”

Then, there’s our worsening student loan crisis. American high schoolers are pressured into higher education at progressive, “woke” institutions that overcharge students while building up enormous stockpiles of wealth. Then, the burden is passed along to the taxpayers. I’m very sympathetic to the plight of the young student. I was there once, and though I purposefully made financial decisions that prevented me from ever taking out loans (doing my first two years at community college before transferring to a less expensive state school), I feel for my peers who are struggling to pay off their loans.

As IWF senior policy analyst explained in her recent policy focus, “Taxing Universities,” young Americans are stuck on a “credential treadmill” due to the cost of college outpacing the actual value of a degree. Graduates may be struggling to make ends meet, but the universities are thriving, expanding their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments full of pencil-pushers. But, sign off on a federal loan at age 18! You’re not falling victim to the trap of predatory lending, and you definitely wouldn’t be better off exploring a potentially lucrative trade instead of a four-year university education.

I digress. Whether it’s student loan forgiveness or skilled medical care, unfairly shifting financial burdens to the general public benefits the elites while disenfranchising middle and lower class Americans. Isn’t it irrational to force Americans without four-year degrees to pay off some stranger’s Master of Arts in Education, Gender Equity Studies? Wouldn’t it be more rational to hold colleges and universities accountable?

“Universities helped create the student loan problem and have made life more difficult for 30 years of their graduates,” Stepman wrote. “Taxing them, rather than taxpayers, for student debt forgiveness is both the prudent and just solution to the student debt crisis.”

Instead of actually solving the underlying cost crisis for education, progressives worsen the cost spiral. Prices remain unsustainably high or grow higher; in the case of education, young students are forced to take out larger federal loans, and in the case of healthcare, patients are forced to rely on big government for price-gouged prescriptions, weaker access to care, or skyrocketing insurance premiums.

Closing Thoughts

“Free” social programs don't exactly live up to their side of the bargain. Forget that medical professionals study for years to learn their skills, need to earn a living, and work with expensive, sterile equipment. Forget that college education largely doesn’t really mean anything tangible anymore beyond long-term daycare, going through the motions without any retention of real knowledge, and being subjected to ideological indoctrination.

But “free” feels better. People will take the more cheaply made, crappier tasting chocolate over the more valuable “truffle,” even if the former is free while the latter costs a few meager cents. This is why people idolize the idea of European socialized medicine, for instance, despite it not providing the same return on investment. As we know, based on the zero price effect, if it feels good at the moment, people will gravitate toward it – even if it’s not a better deal.

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