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A growing sense of fragmentation when it comes to health issues is leading to greater distrust of both the healthcare industry and the media that reports on it, according to the newly released 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer.
The Barometer’s “Special Report: Trust and Health,” which surveyed more than 16,000 people in 16 countries, says the sense of fragmentation is greatest in the U.S., where 86 percent of survey respondents thought the country was at least somewhat divided on key health issues. More than half (52 percent) described the state of affairs as “very or extremely divided.”
That far outdistances the other countries on the list. In Mexico and India, 72 percent of respondents felt at least some sense of division on healthcare issues, while the number drops to 62 percent for Canada, 56 percent for Japan and 42 percent for Singapore.
The overall high amount of debate on health issues has led to a growing lack of trust in the healthcare system itself, according to the report. A majority (52 percent) of respondents across 14 of the countries in the study said they think people are losing trust in the healthcare system.
When it comes to the media, the drop in trust since pre-COVID days is steep. Since 2019, 18 percent fewer U.S. survey participants say they trust the media “to report accurate information about healthcare,” the end result being that fewer than four in ten (38 percent) feel that they can believe what the media tell them about such issues as diseases, treatment and prevention.
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People are also becoming less confident in their ability to find answers to their healthcare questions. In Edelman’s 2025 survey, that confidence level sat at 61 percent. This year, it has dropped 10 points to 51 percent. Confidence levels in the U.S. and France took the biggest hit, both falling by 14 percent.
One place where people are going to help them manage their health is, perhaps not surprisingly, artificial intelligence. Over a third of survey participants (35 percent) say they use AI to manage their health. The things they use it for include getting immediate answers to general health questions (84 percent); sleep, exercise or nutrition recommendations (81 percent); and interpreting medical test results (78 percent).
Almost two-thirds of them (64 percent) also say that AI can perform such tasks as determining proper treatment or medication, as well as, if not better, than a doctor. For respondents between 18 and 34, that number jumps to 72 percent, while for those 55 and over, it is just 52 percent.
To close the gaps caused by the increasingly fragmented healthcare environment, the report stresses the importance of community engagement and relying on trusted sources.
“In a fragmented system,” the report says, “providers win influence through partnership, humility, and helping patients navigate decisions.”
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