America is known for its sky-high medical bills compared to countries with nationalized healthcare — but now, artificial intelligence (AI) tools might make those ballooning costs a little easier to stomach.
Even simple things like calling an ambulance or seeing a doctor can set you back thousands of dollars — and any major medical care can be financially devastating, even with insurance.
For most Americans, there’s little way around it — unless you simply don’t go to the hospital. But one grieving family who recently lost a loved one found out that AI could actually help lighten the burden.
According to Tom’s Hardware, a user shared on Threads how they managed to dramatically cut down a USD 195,000 (≈ RM 936,000) hospital bill — all thanks to AI.
Their brother-in-law had died from a heart attack in June after just four hours in the hospital — and unfortunately, his health insurance had lapsed two months earlier. The bill, totaling USD 195,000 (≈ RM 936,000), made little sense even after receiving an itemized list with complex CPT codes.
Desperate for help, they turned to Anthropic’s Claude AI for assistance.
“I fed the itemized bill and codes to Claude,” the user wrote. “Claude figured out that one of the main Medicare rules meant that all other procedures and supplies during that encounter were unbillable. The hospital had billed us for the master procedure — and then again for every component of it.”
That mistake alone accounted for over USD 100,000 (≈ RM 480,000) in wrongful charges. Claude also discovered additional billing errors — including charges for procedures that never happened.
In total, the AI helped identify USD 158,000 (≈ RM 758,000) worth of irregularities.
When confronted, the hospital initially suggested the family apply for charity assistance — but they refused. “We weren’t looking for charity,” they said. “We were negotiating price — and we caught them in a bad place they couldn’t defend in court or in public.”
Eventually, the hospital backed down, slashing the total to USD 37,000 (≈ RM 177,000) — a massive 80% reduction.
The takeaway? It shouldn’t take an AI to catch unfair billing practices — but when used wisely, tools like Claude can be life-changing. As the poster put it: “Fight when you can, and fight with knowledge.”
