Americans ready to embrace healthcare AI on one condition
Close to 1 in 4 Americans would be willing to use a healthcare AI tool, app or technology as long as it met one criterion: lowering the cost of their care.
That’s according to a random survey conducted online by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Around 1,000 respondents from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia completed the form, according to USC’s newsroom.
The survey looked into views and self-reported likely behaviors around more than two dozen themes involving healthcare and digital technologies.
The project’s researchers found most people are willing to try new things, AI included, to reduce expenses related to their healthcare.
“Many Americans are willing to make significant personal tradeoffs to lower their health insurance rates or medical costs,” the center reported in relaying its key findings Feb. 19.
Other key findings included:
- Most respondents (80%) believe access to healthcare is a basic right that should be available to all citizens regardless of their ability to pay. “This is a view shared even by a majority of citizens who identify themselves as very conservative (56%),” the center notes.
- Sizable swaths of respondents are willing to make “profound” lifestyle choices in exchange for lower insurance rates. “For example, one-third of Americans would agree to 24/7 personal monitoring by insurance companies or healthcare professionals if their insurance rates were reduced.”
- Almost all—92%—say healthcare is a key issue in the 2020 presidential election.
“Americans report general satisfaction with their health insurance coverage, but a deep reading of the data shows a more complex story,” said Jeffrey Cole, the director of the Center for the Digital Future. “Our survey found compelling views about how Americans would change their lives for the sake of their medical coverage.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.