How overcharged patients are enlisting AI to fight against high medical bills: ‘This is theft’

Fed-up patients facing astronomical medical bills are fighting back against hospitals and insurance companies with a secret weapon: artificial intelligence.

Alicia Bittle gave birth to her youngest son in August, but rushed him to the emergency room just three weeks later after the infant developed a fever and respiratory illness.

The stay-at-home mom and “trad wife” who raises her brood on a homestead farm with her husband, spent a grueling two nights in the hospital, where her newborn got a spinal tap, antibiotic and antiviral meds, and a slew of tests before ultimately being diagnosed with Covid.

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Bittle used the bot to help fight back against sky high medical bills after her infant son became ill. Courtesy of Alicia Bittle

Then Bittle, who also writes part time for the conservative women’s publication Evie Magazine, got an eye-popping bill.

The hospital, which Bittle declined to identify, charged the 31-year-old mom of four $14,017.62, leaving her on the hook for a $1,000 copay.

“I’m convinced hospitals charge such crazy, arbitrary amounts so that when you get your co-pay amount from your insurance you’re not angry that you have to shell out $1,000 — you’re relieved you don’t have to pay $14,000,” Bittle wrote on X of the ordeal.

Incensed, she decided to run her itemized hospital bill through Grok, the Elon Musk-owned generative AI chatbot , asking it to analyze the rate for each line item.

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Nearly all the charges on Bittle’s bill were in excess of state and national averages, according to the bot, which provided the links to prove it.

Compared to national averages — Bittle said only that she lives in a rural Southern state — Grok estimated the bill should’ve been half what the hospital charged.

The bulk of the bill wasn’t the lab tests or antibiotic treatments, but the room and board and emergency room fees.

The hospital charged Bittle nearly $7,000 for two nights in the hospital, which the billing department coded “all inclusive room and board,” she told The Post.

According to Grok, a $3,000-plus daily room rate is unusually high, with a more typical rate costing between $1,000 to $2,000.

Grok also flagged Bittle’s $2,261 emergency room fee.

Noting these can vary widely, Grok determined a reasonable price range should be between $500 and $1,500.