The Increasing Use of AI to Deny Health Insurance Claims

Was Live Friday, Dec 20, 2024 | 11am PST

Related Coverage

• Story | As AI-Denied Health Insurance Claims Rise, So Does Nationwide Frustration
• YouTube Playlist | Highlights from this Briefing

Guest Speakers

• Dr. Katherine Hempstead, senior policy officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Dr. Miranda Yaver, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Yaver’s new book “Coverage Denied: How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States” will be released in the spring of 2026
• California State Senator Josh Becker, author of SB 1120, the Physicians Make Decisions Act, which limits the scope of AI by requiring doctors to make final decisions

Event Overview

The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York sparked a national debate over Americans’ profound frustration with the healthcare industry. Even while decrying Thompson’s killing, many people fault insurers like UnitedHealth for the high price of healthcare and for denying care to those in need. 

An investigation by ProPublica this year revealed that insurers now routinely deny millions of claims with the use of AI. Critics note healthcare AI is often riddled with racial and economic biases, which increasingly determines who gets treated versus who does not. Millions of claims are increasingly rejected without a doctor ever opening a patient’s file.

Speakers this week will discuss growing consumer dissatisfaction with health insurance providers, and the impact of AI on health insurance coverage and the high rate of denials.

Presented by Ethnic Media Services