Trump admin using AI to deny medical care for seniors in disastrous experiment
CMS's WISeR pilot uses AI to prior-authorize Medicare care, producing long delays and denial rates above 50 percent.
In January 2026 the Trump administration launched WISeR, a pilot that uses AI and machine learning to prior-authorize about a dozen Medicare services in six states through 2031. Documents released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation describe rushed rollout, vendor data errors, and decisions taking weeks or months instead of the intended 72 hours. Vendor Virtix denied 3,233 of 6,096 requests (53 percent) in a March 30 report and was placed on a CMS corrective action plan that ended August 14. The GAO said officials skipped required procedure, and lawmakers have sought more records and tried to stop the program.
- WISeR requires prior authorization for about a dozen Medicare services in six states through 2031.
- Virtix denied 3,233 of 6,096 requests, about 53 percent, in a March 30 report.
- At least one request was still pending after 83 days; the target is 72 hours.
- GAO found officials did not follow proper procedure when setting up the program.
- Innovaccer temporarily auto-approved requests because its system was not ready.
From the original article
9 min read at arstechnica.com
Vendors rolling out AI have an "incentive to deny as many claims as possible."
By Beth Mole · arstechnica.com
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