Mark Cuban responded skeptically to claims about artificial intelligence outperforming human doctors, highlighting a significant discrepancy between the optimistic portrayals of the tech industry and the actual experiences of patients. A survey conducted by the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America revealed that about 25% of U.S. adults have consulted AI for health-related inquiries.
On July 11, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared these survey results, which were quickly endorsed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who remarked that AI is now a superior doctor compared to 99.99% of human medical professionals.
The comparison was drawn from scenarios that had previously puzzled earlier OpenAI models. The results indicated that doctors rated AI's responses as flawless between 19.8% and 23.9% of the time, while human-written answers scored a mere 10.4%.
On July 10, Karan Singhal, head of OpenAI's health research team, released findings from the latest model iteration, GPT-5.6. In blind assessments, healthcare professionals evaluated this AI’s performance on various patient-focused and clinician-focused tasks.
Cuban’s retort on the social media platform X pointed out that over 25% of a physician's time is consumed by dealing with healthcare conglomerates that complicate both the care process and cost-effectiveness for providers and patients alike. His concern isn't about the AI's performance per se, but rather the systemic issues in healthcare that persist even after an accurate diagnosis is made, particularly regarding how insurance companies utilize AI to stall claim approvals instead of facilitating timely care.
On July 12, Andreessen celebrated the AI model's higher performance in a blind test, echoing Altman's claims while also pointing out the detrimental role that intermediaries play in healthcare. He illustrated that these entities are creating AI systems intended to "delay and deny."
In response to the increasing reliance on AI, Cuban noted that many patients remain skeptical of its accuracy, with only 4% of users expressing strong trust in AI's reliability, and 11% reporting that AI provided advice they deemed unsafe. The disconnect lies in patients' apprehensions about the motivations behind AI's guidance.
Cuban’s argument essentially underscores the fact that even if AI tools can optimize certain processes, they don’t address the foundational challenges posed by insurance companies and related entities that prioritize profits over patient care. He drew attention to the financial burden placed on hospitals, which often outsource revenue cycle management, profiting from the delay in claim recovery.
He pointed to his investment in Claimable, a startup leveraging AI to draft appeal letters for patients with denied insurance claims. Claimable, which has secured $10 million in funding, boasts a success rate where approximately 75% of appeals result in a favorable outcome for the patient, illustrating the perpetual confrontation between patient advocacy through technology and insurer resistance.
Unfortunately, many patients remain unaware of this appeal process. According to the KFF, less than 1% of denied claims from Affordable Care Act marketplace plans were challenged in 2023. Of those who did contest their denials, insurers upheld 56% of the rejections, reaffirming the issues Cuban describes.
Cuban’s proposed solution centers on enhancing pricing transparency within the healthcare system. He highlighted the lack of understanding employers have regarding their healthcare expenditures, advocating for direct contracting between employers and healthcare providers. By sidestepping middlemen and negotiating terms directly, he aims to streamline the healthcare process.
To this end, Cuban launched Cost Plus Wellness, an initiative designed to divulge contracts between employers and providers, fostering an environment where others can replicate effective agreements. To date, they have made 37 contracts public, benefitting over 9,000 providers, particularly within the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Cuban argues that a technologically advanced AI does not inherently lower healthcare costs. Even if AI excels in diagnosis, patients still face bureaucratic hurdles such as prior authorizations and formularies before receiving treatment.
He concluded his message with a stark prediction: unless the middlemen are eliminated from the healthcare equation, the system will remain fundamentally flawed.
