15% of Americans Have Acted on AI Treatment Advice Without First Checking With a Doctor

While chatbots are commonly used to understand health insurance coverage, compare plans, and make sense of medical bills, a growing number of Americans are taking this a step further, relying on AI to make decisions that could directly affect their health.

According to the Insuranceopedia Health Insurance & AI Survey, more than 15% of Americans have acted on AI medical advice without first checking with a doctor.

Millennials Are Most Likely to Skip, Delay or Seek Treatment Based on AI Advice; One in Four Have Done So

AI has dramatically changed how Americans approach healthcare, giving them instant access to information that once required professional guidance. And while it’s easy to understand why many turn to chatbots for health-related questions – they’re cheaper, faster, and more convenient – not long ago, it mostly stopped at advice. However, the latest data show that many Americans are now willing to go a step further and act on AI medical advice without even seeing a doctor.

Insuranceopedia surveyed 1,250 insured U.S. adults to better understand how far Americans are willing to go when relying on AI for medical and health insurance advice, and the results showed that nearly one in six Americans (15.2%) said they had skipped, delayed, or sought treatment. In comparison, around 9% had paid, disputed, or ignored a medical bill based on what a chatbot told them, while 8.9% had used AI advice to choose or change a health insurance plan.

However, these actions are considerably more common among younger adults. The survey showed that more than 18% of Gen Z respondents aged 18–24 made a bill-related decision based on a chatbot’s advice, while around 15% of Millennials aged 25–34 did the same.

Millennials are also the most likely to skip, delay, or seek medical treatment based on AI advice alone, with one in four (26%) doing so. Nearly 19% of insured Americans aged 35–44 said they had done the same.

The survey also found that education doesn’t affect this trend. In fact, more than 15% of respondents with a master`s degree and over 20% of those with a doctorate have made treatment decisions based on AI advice alone.

“Our data show that education or digital literacy don’t make much difference when it comes to who is willing to take AI medical advice a step further and act on it without consulting a doctor. While this is clearly a risky trend, it seems that affordability, speed, and convenience are starting to outweigh professional advice,” said Max Coupland, CEO at Insuranceopedia.

Cost Is the Biggest Driver Pushing Americans Toward AI Medical Guidance

So, what is pushing Americans to skip, delay, or seek treatment based on AI advice alone? One of the most worrying findings in the survey shows that one in four respondents (25%) used chatbots to get medical advice because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor, rising to 53% among Gen Z aged 18–24.

Millennials weren’t far behind, with 41.2% of adults aged 25–34 and 38.2% of those aged 35–44 turning to AI for medical advice for the same reason. Even 16.1% of adults aged 55–64 and 6.8% of those over 65 turned to AI because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor.

Methodology

Insuranceopedia surveyed 1,250 U.S. adults who currently have health insurance using the Pollfish online panel in July 2026. Respondents included people with employer-sponsored, marketplace (ACA), Medicaid, Medicare, and private health insurance. The sample was balanced by age and gender to reflect the U.S. adult population. The margin of error for the full sample is ±2.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Results for smaller groups, such as specific age or income brackets, should be treated as directional. Percentages are rounded, so totals may not always add up to 100%.