BACKGROUND: Over 84 % of all prescriptions in the US are filled as generic drugs, though in prior surveys, patients reported concerns about their quality. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to survey patients' perceptions and use of generic drugs. DESIGN: Our survey (administered August 2014) assessed patients' skepticism about generic drug safety and effectiveness and how often they requested brandname drugs. Chi-square tests and two-sample t-tests assessed associations between patient demographics and the outcomes. PARTICIPANTS: Our sample frame was the CVS Advisor Panel, a national database of 124,621 CVS customers. We randomly selected 1450 patients with self-reported chronic conditions who filled at least one prescription in the prior 3 months. MAIN MEASURES: We assessed how often patients reported asking their physicians to prescribe a brandname over a generic drug in the last year, and Bgeneric skepticism,^defined as not believing generic drugs were as safe, effective, had the same side effects, and contained the same active ingredients as brand-name drugs. KEY RESULTS: Of the 1,442 patients with valid addresses, 933 responded (65 % response rate) and 753 took the full survey. A vast majority (83 %) agreed that physicians should prescribe generic drugs when available, and 54 % said they had not asked their physicians to prescribe a brand-name drug over a generic in the past year. Most respondents considered generic drugs to be as effective (87 %) and safe (88 %) as their brand-name counterparts, and to have the same side effects (80 %) and active ingredients (84 %). Non-Caucasians were more likely than Caucasians to request a brand-name drug over a generic (56 % vs. 43 %, p < 0.01), and were also more skeptical of generic drugs' clinical equivalence (43 % vs. 29 %, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: We found a substantial shift towards more patients having positive views of generic drugs, but lingering negative perceptions will have to be overcome to ensure continued cost-savings and improved patient outcomes from generic drugs.