ChatGPT Is Americans' Top AI for Medical Questions, Beating Gemini in Every Age Group

While two in three Americans still trust their health insurer the most when they want to compare plans, make sense of a medical bill, or need help to understand what their policy covers, a growing number are turning to AI as a more convenient and affordable alternative. Yet, when choosing AI over insurers, there’s one chatbot they trust the most.

According to the Insuranceopedia Health Insurance & AI Survey, ChatGPT is Americans’ top AI chatbot for medical and health insurance questions, beating Google Gemini across all age groups.

Nearly Half of Gen Zers Choose ChatGPT for Medical and Healthcare Advice

As the world’s most widely used AI chatbot, ChatGPT has become the go-to AI assistant for millions of Americans, accounting for roughly 66% of the U.S. AI chatbot market in June, according to StatCounter data, six times more than Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. That popularity is also reflected in healthcare, where Americans increasingly turn to ChatGPT for medical and health insurance questions, and the latest Insuranceopedia data confirms it.

Insuranceopedia surveyed 1,250 insured U.S. adults to better understand how Americans use artificial intelligence in healthcare, revealing that when they turn to AI for medical or health insurance advice, most choose ChatGPT.

According to the survey, only one in three respondents, or around 35%, said they would never use AI for health insurance questions, while the remaining 65% already have their preferred chatbot.  Around 28% of all respondents said they would turn to ChatGPT for medical or health insurance advice, while 21% preferred Google Gemini. Far behind, Microsoft Copilot ranked third with a 6.4% share, followed by Meta AI (4%), Claude (2.3%), and Grok (1.6%). The data show that Perplexity was the least-selected option, with just 0.5% of respondents choosing it.

“Our survey showed that when Americans decide to use AI for healthcare advice, they don’t just pick a random chatbot. They choose the one they trust the most, and for most Americans, that’s ChatGPT,” said Max Coupland, CEO at Insuranceopedia.

And while ChatGPT beats Google Gemini and other chatbots across all age groups, its share was significantly higher among younger generations.  The survey showed that nearly half of all Gen Zers would choose ChatGPT for medical or healthcare advice, while only 22.4% wouldn’t turn to AI at all. Even in the most AI-skeptical group aged 65+, where 55% of respondents avoid using AI for this purpose, ChatGPT was still the most acceptable option with a 17.3% share.

Medical Advice and Insurance Questions Are ChatGPT’s Most Common Healthcare Use Cases

So, what`s ChatGPT’s most common use case among Americans searching for medical or healthcare help? One of the most worrying findings in the survey shows that one in four respondents, or 25%, use it to get medical advice because they can’t afford to see a doctor, proving that AI is shifting from a general health assistant into a tool for higher-risk health decisions.

Another 22% need help in understanding what their health insurance plans cover, while 19% turn to chatbots to make sense of a medical bill.

Also, when asked what makes chatbots like ChatGPT a better alternative to their insurers, 33% said it`s because they are always available, 30% said they explain things better, and another 28% said they are easier to contact than their insurers. This shows that AI is slowly but steadily eating into insurers’ share across all three main things consumers care about: convenience, speed, and cost.

The same cost pressures pushing people toward AI are also reshaping how they shop for coverage — from health plans to life insurance, where affordability and clear answers increasingly drive decisions.

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%.