Healthcare- ~50k per year means mandatory $300/month for the "benefit" of an $8,000 deductible plan, or for many people you pay $300 per month for the "benefit" of paying all your own medical expenses. If the income drops to $40,000 per year then you only have to pay $150 per month for the coverage. Unless your medical bills are more than $12,000 (monthly + deductible) paying the fine/tax/penalty is cheaper. Come April, writing a $1000 check to the IRS isn't helpful. You almost have to hope to be really poor or really sick to get an actual benefit. The worst off 5% may benefit. The top 5% may benefit (well-off techies that want to leave an employer and create a startup app but still have benefits) but the middle 90% who are somewhat healthy and make average (40-50k) incomes pay more for "help" they hopefully never need.
Many people don't view "help a man when he's down" as working that way. The success of food stamps is based on how many people are on the program, not how many people are helped off the program. Subsidizing overpriced tuition doesn't lower tuition, it raises tuition while moving and hiding the true cost. Medicare and medicaid are the probably the biggest reasons why healthcare is so expensive. Does spending millions on tent cities really solve a homeless problem? Public schools already cost $10,000+ per student per year- is more money really what is needed?
These aren't questions looking for answers but when "help" is viewed through this lens it may explain why many people prefer the "leave me and my money alone" approach instead of the "tax me more for these great solutions" approach.