DAILY ACTION: September 5, 2025
STOP MEDICARE’S ‘AI DEATH PANELS’ PLAN
Medicare is one of the most successful and popular government programs in U.S. history. One reason for its popularity is that it’s far more user-friendly than private insurance. Medicare covers more procedures and tests. With private insurance, you often need prior authorization for even basic medical procedures — an unwieldy process that takes too long and can result in inexplicable denials, even when a doctor recommends treatment.
Now, the Trump Administration is launching a pilot program that would make Medicare more like private insurance. According to the New York Times:
“The federal government plans to hire private companies to use artificial intelligence to determine whether patients would be covered for some procedures, like certain spine surgeries or steroid injections. Similar algorithms used by insurers have been the subject of several high-profile lawsuits, which have asserted that the technology allowed the companies to swiftly deny large batches of claims and cut patients off from care in rehabilitation facilities.”
These for-profit AI Death Panels will roll out this January in six pilot states: Arizona, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. The pilots will reportedly be limited to about 17 procedures to start, but if they achieve their goal — cutting costs by denying a lot of people a lot of care — they could expand to more procedures and more states.
This creates a powerful incentive to deny more treatments. The worse it is for patients, the more money these companies make. It’s a cut to Medicare services designed to enrich the tech oligarchy.
This attack on Medicare creates massive political risk for Trump and his GOP enablers in Congress. Medicare is one of the most popular public programs in US history, and hard working people typically don’t respond well when politicians interfere with their health decisions.
- Brand it clearly. Democrats should call this provision “AI Death Panels for Medicare”. Don’t be afraid to demagogue this with aggressive memes and social media posts.
- Force a vote. Congressional Democrats should push to eliminate this provision. They should also hammer RFK Jr. when he appears at a Senate hearing next week.
- Talk about it. All of us can talk about this with our friends and family.
- Email Congress using Indivisible’s sample letter
- Contact your electeds and speak out LOUDLY against Trump and Oz’s plans to let AI choose who can and can’t get healthcare
- Use ResistBot, 5Calls or other tools to let your electeds know you do not support AI death panels