Most Americans don’t mind paying their share when the rules are clear & the system feels fair. However, what they do get frustrated with is the costs that appear because someone else didn’t follow the rules, or they simply didn’t pay in the first place. Many Americans are tired of it all. Let’s find out exactly why Americans are done paying for other people’s choices, and how it’s not actually as rude as some people claim.
1. Medical bills for those without coverage
It doesn’t matter that emergency patients don’t have the cash to pay for their medical care, as hospitals are required to treat them anyway. That unpaid amount doesn’t suddenly disappear. In fact, researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation found that hospitals provided more than $42 billion a year in uncompensated care before the pandemic, and private insurance premiums indirectly covered a large share of these bills. People who already have coverage have to pay that cost. That’s not to say that Americans don’t want people to get the care they need, but rather, they’re unhappy about having to pay for people deciding not to get coverage.
2. Uninsured drivers
Auto insurance providers understand that some drivers aren’t going to get any insurance at all, even though it’s legally required. As such, they push the risk of these drivers onto those paying. They’ll make insured Americans pay through uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, despite the fact that the ones paying don’t fall into that category. The most careful of drivers have to pay for crashes that people without coverage cause. That doesn’t exactly feel fair to most Americans.
3. Student-loan relief
Nationwide polls show that there isn’t strong support for broad student-loan forgiveness in America. A poll by AP-NORC & the University of Chicago Harris School found that less than half of American adults felt that forgiving student loans should be a high federal priority. Of course, there is nuance to this. People’s support for student loan forgiveness changes, depending on the borrower’s circumstances, yet blanket relief for student loans consistently appears to be a low-priority issue for Americans.
4. Unpaid taxes
The IRS calculates the “tax gap” every year, and that figure is the difference between what Americans owe & what they actually pay. The tax gap consistently reaches hundreds of billions annually. Unfortunately, despite the majority of Americans paying what they actually owe, a large share of taxes isn’t actually collected, due to other people’s choice not to pay their fair share. It means that compliant taxpayers have to carry more of the load. Americans aren’t exactly happy about that.
5. Transit fare evasion
People skip paying for their transit fares all the time in America. However, the system doesn’t simply move on, as the transit agencies still need to keep buses running & maintain their tracks, while also paying workers. They need to make that money back somehow. Data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Blue-Ribbon Panel on Fare & Toll Evasion found that unpaid fares and tolls cost the MTA around $700 million in 2022. Unfortunately, it’s paying riders who have to pay that shortfall. They’ll see higher fares or fewer service options, and many of them are tired of paying for someone else’s choice not to pay.
6. Unpaid tolls
A similar problem that Americans no longer want to pay is the cost of unpaid tolls. As soon as a toll goes unpaid, agencies start tracking the plate & sending the notice to the person in question, which sometimes leads to them hiring outside collection services. However, the cost of that affects everyone. The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority found that toll evasion recovery increased to $198.6 million in 2022 from $147.0 million the year before. Sadly, the costs of staffing, tech & processing toll evasion recovery affect the toll system as a whole. Lots of Americans are done with it.
7. Friendly fraud chargebacks
Friendly fraud chargebacks involve someone buying something online and keeping it, then telling their bank that it was an unauthorized charge. It’s nowhere near as “friendly” as the name might suggest. In fact, the Merchant Risk Council spoke to payment risk teams at many major U.S. retailers and found that a third of merchants said they had to increase prices due to chargeback costs. Dealing with friendly fraud causes them fees & shipping losses, alongside loss of staff time, and it’s the average, well-meaning customer who has to offset these costs.
One of the main reasons that Americans are frustrated about paying for other people’s choices is how quickly these costs spread. Sure, one person’s lack of insurance coverage or unpaid taxes may not seem like a huge issue on its own. But they become a significant amount when they stack up. The same people have to keep absorbing the bill, and over time, it feels like an open tab that never closes, rather than a shared responsibility.
