AFT’s Weingarten and Murphy Respond to Medicare Pilot Program Using AI in Medical Procedure Approval Process

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Retirees Program and Policy Council Co-Chair Tom Murphy issued the following statement in response to a new Medicare pilot program that will use artificial intelligence to help approve or deny certain medical procedures, such as spine surgeries or steroid injections.

“The Trump administration is attempting to transform Medicare into the very worst of private insurance.

“Instead of making life easier and better for older Americans, this administration is introducing extra hurdles that are burdensome to patients and  often get in the way of their desperately needed treatments. And the administration is inserting private AI companies, which have a giant financial stake in the denial of care, into the doctor-patient relationship.

“This is wrong, and it’s an insult to retired and disabled Americans who deserve the best of care from doctors and nurses—not from AI companies.”