Outcry Over Insurer AI Use Energizes State Bids to Crack Down

State legislators are renewing efforts to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in health insurers’ coverage decisions, fueled in part by the discontent many Americans voiced after the shooting death of a top UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive.

A landmark California law (SB 1120) prohibiting health insurers from using AI tools to make medical necessity determinations takes effect Jan. 1, and the law’s sponsor is talking with other states about his legislation, hoping it will set a precedent amid reports of insurers increasingly using AI to deny care.

Lawmakers in Georgia, New York, and Pennsylvania who introduced legislation on ...