Lawsuit Claims America's Largest Health Insurer's AI Denies Care Inaccurately 90% of the Time
Originally Published 2 years ago — by Futurism
UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance provider in the US, is facing a lawsuit alleging that its AI algorithm, nH Predict, is wrong 90 percent of the time and is being used to deny coverage to severely ill patients. The lawsuit claims that UnitedHealth breached its contract by using the inaccurate AI, which resulted in patients being denied extended care. An investigation found that the AI algorithm's projections on patient care were unquestioningly followed by employees, leading to questionable decisions. The AI's inaccuracies are believed to be due to inheriting errors and cost-cutting from previous decisions, failing to account for clinical and practical factors. UnitedHealth denies the allegations, stating that coverage decisions are made by medical directors based on Medicare criteria.