In a new poll conducted by the Connected Health Initiative, likely voters strongly support expanded telehealth, HSA Use, and other CHI Priorities. 

Less than two weeks out from Election Day, a new poll released today from the Connected Health Initiative (CHI) and fielded by Embold Research, likely voters from both sides of the aisle strongly oppose (82%) allowing states with abortion bans to use private data to prosecute residents who get abortions in other states. 

As states with restrictions on reproductive healthcare, such as Idaho, consider using personal data to potentially prosecute women who cross state lines to receive healthcare, likely voters surveyed strongly support protecting reproductive healthcare data and preventing these states where abortion is restricted from using it to prosecute women.

“With reproductive healthcare a top issue in this election, the new CHI poll showcases that voters largely reject extreme policies and attempts to use personal data to track patients and even prosecute those seeking healthcare,” said Morgan Reed, President of the Connected Health Initiative (CHI). “New technology has helped to provide important innovations and expand healthcare access and services. Voters see the benefits of these services, like telehealth, and also want to protect their privacy and against other risks that can occur.”  

In the poll of 1,000 likely voters nationwide, there is also growing consensus across the political spectrum in the value of tech-forward healthcare access, data protection, and expanded use of HSA accounts.

Top findings from the survey include:

Voters on both sides of the aisle want to protect reproductive healthcare data and prevent states where abortion is restricted from using it to prosecute women: Voters overwhelmingly oppose (82%) allowing states with abortion bans to use private data to prosecute residents who get abortions in other states. In fact, 71% of Republican voters and 81% of independents are opposed. 

Voters strongly support continued access to telehealth and other health/tech policies: The majority of voters (57%) feel that it is very or extremely important that Congress authorize Medicare to permanently cover telehealth appointments. 84% of voters support allowing patients to receive medication from telehealth providers. 

Flexibility with HSA Funds a priority for Voters: 80% support allowing the use of HSA funds to purchase health monitoring technology, such as a smartwatch. 

Survey Methodology: The survey was commissioned by the Connected Health initiative and conducted online by Embold Research. Post-stratification was performed on age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, region, and the 2020 presidential vote. Weighting parameters were based on the breakdowns of each group obtained from the voter file; that is, if x% of voters were women, then women would be weighted to x% of the sample. Presidential results were retrieved from the Secretaries of State. Embold Research surveyed 1,333 likely voters nationwide from October 10-14, 2024. We used the following sources to recruit respondents: targeted advertisements on Facebook and Instagram, as well as across the web via Facebook’s ad platform (1,041 respondents) and text messages sent, via the Echo 19  platform, to cell phone numbers listed on the voter file for individuals who qualified for the survey’s sample universe, based on their voter file data (292 respondents). 

The modeled margin of error* for this survey is 2.8%, which uses effective sample sizes** that adjust for the design effect of weighting. Like all public opinion research, this research entails some additional unmeasured errors.