Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

Comprehensive healthcare reform may still be a ways off, but it isn’t necessarily the economy or political will standing in the way. It is our history, according to a study.

People in industrialized countries are attached to the history of their own system, according to researchers at Indiana University. Countries with strong pro big-government attitudes have popular support for government-run supported healthcare. By contrast, the U.S. is the least likely to feel the government should have any role in the healthcare process, with only about 38% supporting that view. Researchers looked at the healthcare systems of 21 industrialized nations, and at the public attitudes surrounding them.

People in countries with insurance-model healthcare, such as the U.S. or Germany, also are less likely to support increased government spending on healthcare, researchers say. Only 17% in the U.S. support increased spending, while support for increased spending in countries with centralized healthcare systems, such as Russia or Latvia, can reach up to 64.2%. The full report appears in Friday’s online edition of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.