A new survey from research and advisory firm Forrester reveals that trust is critically low for health insurers, with only 25% of noncustomers and 54% of customers describing health insurers as trustworthy.
That’s one alarming takeaway from “The Trust Foundation is Fractured for US Health Insurers, 2025” report, which also reveals that generational differences in trust are stark. Only 35% of Gen Z-ers trust health insurance companies to keep their personal information secure, compared to 63% of the Silent Generation (typically defined as those born between 1928 and 1945).
What’s more, the survey reveals, high-trust customers are 5.5 times more likely to share personal data and give significantly higher ratings across ease, effectiveness, and emotional dimensions of customer experience compared to low-trust customers.
As the 14-page report states: “Trust is an essential component of brand experience and customer experience. Health insurers stand at a crossroads: Evolve from transactional interactions to meaningful, lasting relationships — or risk disruption by vexed stakeholders.”
“Health insurers are facing a crisis in trust, but there is a path forward,” says Arielle Trzcinski, a principal analyst for Forrester. “By investing in transparency, bolstering data security, and focusing on the right trust levers, insurers can rebuild relationships and reclaim relevance.”
Those trust levers include competence, dependability, accountability, consistency, integrity, empathy and transparency. Additionally, high-trust U.S. health insurance customers feel more valued and less frustrated if they are happy with and confident in their insurance provider, according to the report.
“High trust creates significant lifts for health insurers: 65% of high-trust customers report that their health insurer distinguishes itself from its competitors; 53% of high-trust customers say that they would pay a premium for their health insurer’s experience (its products and services),” the report notes.
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