TABLE A1.

The trust manipulation questions and the vignettes.

Trust manipulation (asked before the low-trust vignette)
Imagine a country in which the healthcare system has the following characteristics:
• Doctors have low competence.
• Many doctors are not empathic to patients’ concerns and do not provide any encouragement. These doctors neither listen to the patient nor understand the patient’s needs.
• The medical institutions are characterized by long waiting times, and the hygiene standards are low.
• Not all patients in the hospitals are equal: there are certain privileged groups and doctors exhibit friendly attitude to them.
Using a scale from 1 to 5, where “1” means “Fully Distrust” and “5” means “Fully Trust,” please indicate to what extent should a citizen trust the healthcare system of the country described above.
Low-trust vignette
Imagine Robert [Anna], who lives in Country X. The healthcare system in Country X can be characterized as follows:
• Doctors have low competence.
• Many doctors are not empathic to patients’ concerns and do not provide any encouragement. These doctors neither listen to the patient nor understand the patient’s needs.
• The medical institutions are characterized by long waiting times, and the hygiene standards are low.
• Not all patients in the hospitals are equal: there are certain privileged groups and doctors exhibit friendly attitude to them.
Robert [Anna] has developed symptoms that resemble those of COVID-19 (coronavirus) symptoms: temperature, tiredness, sore throat, cough. In your opinion, what should Robert’s first action be (*)?
• Call emergency
• Visit a medical institution
• Isolate and get engaged in self-care
• Isolate and wait to recover
• Do nothing, live a normal life
*The order of the options presented to the respondents is randomized.
Trust manipulation (asked before the high-trust vignette)
Imagine a country in which the healthcare system has the following characteristics:
• Doctors have high competence.
• Many doctors are empathic to patients’ concerns and always provide encouragement. These doctors always listen to the patient and understand the patient’s needs.
• The medical institutions are characterized by short waiting times, and the hygiene standards are high.
• All patients in the hospitals are equal: there are no privileged groups and doctors exhibit friendly attitude to everyone.
Using a scale from 1 to 5, where “1” means “Fully Distrust” and “5” means “Fully Trust,” please indicate to what extent should a citizen trust the healthcare system of the country described above.
High-trust vignette
Imagine Robert [Anna], who lives in Country X. The healthcare system in Country X can be characterized as follows:
• Doctors have high competence.
• Many doctors are empathic to patients’ concerns and always provide encouragement. These doctors always listen to the patient and understand the patient’s needs.
• The medical institutions are characterized by short waiting times, and the hygiene standards are high.
• All patients in the hospitals are equal: there are no privileged groups and doctors exhibit friendly attitude to everyone.
Robert [Anna] has developed symptoms that resemble those of COVID-19 (coronavirus) symptoms: temperature, tiredness, sore throat, cough. In your opinion, what should Robert’s first action be (*)?
• Call emergency
• Visit a medical institution
• Isolate and get engaged in self-care
• Isolate and wait to recover
• Do nothing, live a normal life
*The order of the options presented to the respondents is randomized.

The vignettes used in the survey experiment. In the vignette, where the portrayed third person is female, Anna is replaced with a male character.