Amid Hype, Experts Debate AI’s Impact on Health Insurance

Hype of artificial intelligence reached new heights in 2023, and the health care industry was no exception to that trend. Health insurance firms have been among the first organizations to deploy previous generations of big data tools at scale, and in turn, AI is set to proliferate among health insurers in the near future. How AI adoption will actually impact health insurance operations and finances is an open question.  

Some insiders, like Moody’s Investors Service analysts, expect health insurers to reap dramatic operational and financial benefits by deploying AI. Other experts disagree, including a group of Stanford University researchers who published a Nov. 16 op-ed in JAMA arguing that due to the extreme complexity of medical administration in the U.S., AI using large language models (LLMs) “might exacerbate billing challenges for physicians” and could lead to additional challenges of filed claims by carriers.