Americans are getting more comfortable with telemedicine

A YouGov/Cheddar survey conducted earlier this month found that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans are feeling comfortable with telemedicine services.

In November 2019, 65 percent of Americans said they would be comfortable speaking to a doctor or nurse practitioner over the phone or internet, rather than in-person. In April 2020, that number has risen to 74 percent.

Not only do they feel more comfortable overall with these virtual health services, they also are more inclined to trust them.

When asked in November 2019 how much they would trust services provided by a doctor over telemedicine, 14 percent said they would trust these services “a lot.” In April 2020, one in five (20%) now say they would trust a telemedicine doctor a lot.

Additional data from the most recent Cheddar/YouGov survey of nearly 1,300 Americans finds that 15 percent of US adults have used telemedicine services. Americans who have health insurance through their employer, union, school, trade group or an association are especially likely (20%) to have used telemedicine.

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Methodology: Total unweighted sample size was 2,603 US adults. Unweighted sample size for November 2019 survey was 1,329 US adults; unweighted sample size for the April 2020 survey was 1,274 US adults. Surveys were conducted online between November 22, 2019 and April 6, 2020. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (aged 18+).