Confidence in making everyday health decisions fell 14 points in a single year, according to the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer.
Members have more care options, information and digital tools than ever. That abundance hasn’t made decisions easier. It leaves members to weigh symptoms, cost and coverage at once, and mostly alone.
When the next step isn’t clear, members delay care, default to costlier settings or move outside the benefits payers already fund. Each of those decisions carries a cost the plan absorbs, and it undercuts the navigation and engagement investments payers have made.
This guide examines the widening gap between expanding access and declining decision confidence, and what that gap costs payers. It breaks down the three forces driving the shift, the role clinical guidance plays and how to evaluate whether your member experience is building confidence or eroding it.
You’ll learn:
- How information overload, affordability anxiety and fragmentation push members toward delayed care, costlier settings
- Why members turn to AI tools for certainty, and the risks that approach carries
- How payers can help members move from uncertainty to action
- Three steps leaders can take now to make sure care options help members decide what to do — not just point them somewhere