Men Are 46% More Likely Than Women to Trust AI as Much as Their Insurer

While AI chatbots are becoming a common source of information for everything from medical bills to health plan coverage, men and women don’t trust them equally.

According to Insuranceopedia’s 2026 Health Insurance & AI Survey, men are 46% more likely than women to trust AI as much as their health insurer.

1 in 3 Men Trust AI as Much as Their Health Insurer, vs. 1 in 5 Women

Over the past few years, AI has become a convenient healthcare tool, offering speed and availability when it is hard to reach a health insurer or doctor. And while many might think this shift is mainly happening among younger, tech-savvy people, gender also appears to play a role.

Insuranceopedia surveyed 1,250 insured U.S. adults to understand how Americans use and trust AI for health insurance questions and whether attitudes differ between men and women, showing that men are consistently more open to trusting AI than women.

While 22.1% of men trust AI and their health insurer equally, only 15.1% of women say the same. That is a seven-percentage-point gap and makes men 46% more likely to place the two sources on equal footing. The same difference appears among those who trust AI more than their insurer, at 8.2% of men versus 5.6% of women. When both groups are combined, 30.3% of men place AI at least on par with their insurer, compared with 20.7% of women. In other words, that is nearly one in three men versus one in five women.

The survey also looked at why respondents might trust AI for health insurance questions. Across all respondents, 33.6% cited its 24/7 availability, 29.8% valued plain-language explanations, and 28.6% said it was faster than getting through to their insurer. Another 21.7% felt AI had no reason to deny coverage or protect the insurance company.

Commenting on the findings, Max Coupland, CEO at Insuranceopedia, said: “The gender gap is interesting, but it doesn’t mean men are ready to replace their health insurer with an AI chatbot. Most respondents still trust their insurer more. What the results do show is that men are more willing to put AI on the same level.”

Americans Turn to AI for Medical Advice and Help Understanding Health Coverage

So, how are insured Americans using AI for healthcare and health insurance support? According to the survey, 22% have used an AI chatbot to get medical advice instead of seeing a doctor because of the cost. Almost the same percentage used AI to better understand what their health plan covers.

Another 19% used AI to make sense of medical bills, while 16% used it to choose a health insurance plan. Appealing a denied insurance claim ranked last, with 8% saying they had used AI for that purpose.

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%.