Most Americans don't want AI deciding their medical care or insurance, survey says

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Pew Research Center found 5% of U.S. adults are open to AI deciding insurance claims on its own, and 3% for diagnoses

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Pew Research Center reported in a new survey that 60% of U.S. adults are uncomfortable with AI being used in their own healthcare for tasks like diagnoses and treatments. That is double the 30% who said they are comfortable. Another 10% were not sure.

Five percent of respondents are open to AI deciding an insurance claim on its own, and 46% do not want AI to have any role in those decisions. Another 38% are open to AI handling claims if a human does a final review. For diagnoses, 3% are open to AI acting alone, 47% are open to it with human review and 41% are not open to AI doing this.

The survey of 3,488 U.S. adults ran June 22-28, 2026. Respondents were more receptive to AI on administrative tasks. About 78% are open to AI translating for patients, either on its own (26%) or with human review (52%). Pew said the smallest share is receptive to AI deciding on health insurance claims.

Eileen Yam, director of science and society research at Pew Research Center and lead author of the report, told Bloomberg, "They generally don't want AI operating solo." She said, "They want a human in the loop doing final reviews."

Americans disagree about whether AI will leave patients with better health results. Some 37% say AI use for diagnoses and treatments will lead to better health outcomes, 36% say worse and 26% say it will not make much difference. Pew said those views have remained unchanged since 2022, but young adults have grown more pessimistic. Among adults under 30, 45% now say outcomes will be worse, up from 29% in 2022, and 31% say better, down from 44%.

Respondents were most negative about privacy and the patient-doctor relationship. Some 51% say AI will make the security of personal health information worse, compared with 8% who say better. For the patient-doctor relationship, 47% say worse and 10% say better. More respondents say AI will improve the availability of healthcare services than worsen it, at 31% versus 20%.

Few Americans express confidence in institutions to make sure AI serves patients. Some 58% have not too much or no confidence in health insurance companies, 55% in the federal government and 50% in AI companies. Doctors drew the most trust: 26% have a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in them, and 25% have not too much or none.

Yam said transparency will matter. "Americans just want to be informed when AI is being used in their care," she said.

The findings come from the same survey behind a Pew report published Aug. 25 on disclosure of AI use in healthcare. In that report, 81% of adults said patients should be told when AI analyzes medical scans or makes a diagnosis, and 63% said they want more say over how AI is used in their care.

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