Nearly half of U.S. adults oppose AI playing any role in health insurance claim decisions, according to a Pew Research Center survey published Oct. 29.
The survey of 3,488 adults, conducted in June, tested public openness to AI across eight healthcare tasks such as patient translation services or appointment note taking.
Five notes:
- Of the eight healthcare tasks tested, the use of AI for claim decisions drew the most resistance. Forty-six percent of respondents said they are not open to AI being involved at all, and only 5% said they would be comfortable with AI making those calls without a human reviewing them. Thirty-eight percent said they are open to AI handling claims if a person does a final review.
- Receptiveness to AI in the claims process also varied sharply by race and income. Sixty-five percent of Asian adults said they are open to AI playing some role in claim decisions, compared with 45% of Hispanic adults, 40% of White adults, and 39% of Black adults. Upper-income Americans were also significantly more open to AI across all eight tasks than lower-income respondents.
- Health insurers ranked last among six groups Americans were asked to trust with AI oversight, while physicians came in first. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they have little or no confidence in insurers to make sure AI is used in patients’ best interest, ahead of the federal government at 55% and AI companies at 50%. Only 11% expressed a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in insurers.
- More than half of Americans (51%) said AI will make the security of personal health information worse, while just 8% said it will make it better.
- Twenty-six percent said AI will make healthcare costs worse for patients, 19% said it will make costs better, and nearly a third were unsure.
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