Congress just introduced a bill that could reshape how 300 million Americans receive medical care. The Doctors Not AI Act (H.R. 10210), introduced September 1, 2026 by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, takes direct aim at one of the most contentious issues in modern healthcare: the use of artificial intelligence to deny insurance claims.
The bill's name is blunt. So is its intent. Insurers cannot let an algorithm have the final say over whether you get surgery, a specialist referral, or a life-saving scan. A licensed human physician must review and sign off. That sounds obvious. It is not yet law. This bill aims to make it so.
The Problem: AI Rubber-Stamping Denials at Scale
Prior authorization (PA) was designed as a cost-control mechanism: before a physician performs a procedure, they ask the insurer for approval. In theory, a qualified clinician reviews the request and approves or denies based on medical evidence. In practice, that review is increasingly being done by an algorithm train…
