Here’s a story that stopped me in my tracks. A grieving family was hit with a $195,000 hospital bill for just four hours of their loved one’s care in the ICU. No surgery. No five-day extended stay.
Now imagine going through the worst moment of your life and getting a bill like that. Instead of writing a check or getting steamrolled by the system, they did something smart. They asked AI for help.
😱 Paging Dr. Overcharge
They uploaded the full bill into an AI chatbot, in this case, Claude, and simply asked: “Can you review this hospital bill and look for errors or duplicate charges?”
What they got back was gold. The chatbot raised all kinds of red flags.
Charges that were duplicated
Improper billing codes
A “master procedure” bundled with the same line items also billed separately. I guess that’s a big no-no under Medicare.
Armed with that info, the family went back to the hospital. And guess what? The final bill was cut from $195,000 to $33,000. That’s not a typo.
🛠️ Try this with your next medical bill
I’m not saying AI is perfect. But it can absolutely help you review charges, spot overbilling and ask smarter questions, especially when emotions are running high.
If you get a confusing medical bill, here’s how to fight back:
Ask for the full, itemized bill. You’re entitled to it, so don’t accept a vague summary.
Remove personal details. Take a black marker and make sure your medical ID, DOB, full name, SSN and other identifying info are not readable.
Use your favorite chatbot. Take a pic of the bills and paste them into a chatbot like Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.
Ask this question. “Can you find billing errors, duplicates or coding problems in this bill?”
Follow up with this question. “Which charges seem inflated or shouldn’t be billed separately?”
The health care system counts on you being overwhelmed and too emotionally drained to question the bill. AI gives you a secret weapon.📤 Know someone battling medical bills? Send them this story. If a chatbot can wipe out $162,000 in bogus charges, it can probably help your friends and family, too.
The post A chatbot slashed their $195K hospital bill to $33K appeared first on Komando.com.