Watch: As AI Makes More Health Coverage Decisions, the Risks to Patients Grow

By Darius Tahir and Hannah Norman

April 10, 2026

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<br /> <span class="byline">Darius Tahir and Hannah Norman, KFF Health News</span></p> <p>This year, executives from nearly every major health insurance company made the same declaration in calls with Wall Street analysts: Using artificial intelligence to make coverage decisions would help save them money.</p> <p>Even the Trump administration is testing AI’s usefulness in managing the prior authorization process for the Medicare program, as well as seeking to override AI regulation by states.</p> <p>But class action lawsuits have accused insurers of using AI to wrongfully withhold treatment. And new research from Stanford University outlines the risks of training AI on a current system rife with wrongful denials.</p> <p>“There is a world in which using AI could make that worse, or at least replicate a bad human system, because the data that it would be training on is from that bad human system,” said Michelle Mello, a co-author of the study.</p> <p>Although, Mello said, the research team found “real positives alongside the risks.”</p> <p>In this video produced by KFF Health News’ Hannah Norman, Darius Tahir, a correspondent covering health technology, explains.</p> <p>You can read Tahir’s recent coverage of AI’s use by health insurers below:</p> <p>
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