Get a $22,604 ER bill in collections waived after Claude helped find grounds to challenge it

Posted

Apr 26, 2026 by Walter Kerr and Jackie Davalos (The Seattle Times / New York Times)

·

Last checked

Oct 19, 2026

·

Method:

How we verify

Evidence: Article or interviewA newsletter, journalist or interview account of what happened.

Outcome

Two years after an ER visit, Jackie Davalos got a collections notice saying $22,604 was owed to the hospital, having never received a bill; the records wrongly listed Davalos as uninsured. A first dispute only removed one medication charge. Davalos's partner, Walter Kerr, uploaded the billing and medical records to Claude and asked whether they had any further recourse. Claude suggested several arguments, including that legal requirements on debt and insurance might not have been met. Using many of them, Kerr wrote to executives at the hospital and its parent company, and shortly after the hospital waived the entire bill, later acknowledging a clerical error. A legal aid lawyer who reviewed it said some of Claude's analysis was right but it misunderstood some of the laws it cited.

Agent

Claude

The source didn't share its exact prompt, so we wrote this from what it describes.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Review my billing and medical records and tell me what grounds I may have to dispute this bill, then help me write to the right people.

Fill in before running:
- The bill or collections notice: [ATTACH]
- Billing and medical records, with insurance details at the time: [ATTACH]
- What's already been tried and the replies: [DETAILS]

You're not my lawyer. Stick to facts I give you, label any rule you mention as something to check against the official source, and keep the tone firm but polite.

Rules:
- List possible grounds for dispute, and for each say which law or rule it relies on and who it applies to (hospital, insurer or collector).
- Mark every legal point as something to confirm with a legal aid service or the official source.
- Point out simple fixes first, like wrong insurance details or missing bills.
- Draft a short, factual letter to the billing department and a senior contact.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A list of grounds with how sure you are about each, and a draft letter.

You'll know it worked when: the bill is corrected or waived and nothing goes on my credit record.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Review my billing and medical records and tell me what grounds I may have to dispute this bill, then help me write to the right people.

Fill in before running:
- The bill or collections notice: [ATTACH]
- Billing and medical records, with insurance details at the time: [ATTACH]
- What's already been tried and the replies: [DETAILS]

You're not my lawyer. Stick to facts I give you, label any rule you mention as something to check against the official source, and keep the tone firm but polite.

Rules:
- List possible grounds for dispute, and for each say which law or rule it relies on and who it applies to (hospital, insurer or collector).
- Mark every legal point as something to confirm with a legal aid service or the official source.
- Point out simple fixes first, like wrong insurance details or missing bills.
- Draft a short, factual letter to the billing department and a senior contact.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.

Output: A list of grounds with how sure you are about each, and a draft letter.

You'll know it worked when: the bill is corrected or waived and nothing goes on my credit record.

Run this task now, exactly as written below. Everything you need is here, so start straight away and only stop if something required is missing or a rule below tells you to.

Goal: Review my billing and medical records and tell me what grounds I may have to dispute this bill, then help me write to the right people.

Fill in before running:
- The bill or collections notice: [ATTACH]
- Billing and medical records, with insurance details at the time: [ATTACH]
- What's already been tried and the replies: [DETAILS]

You're not my lawyer. Stick to facts I give you, label any rule you mention as something to check against the official source, and keep the tone firm but polite.

Rules:
- List possible grounds for dispute, and for each say which law or rule it relies on and who it applies to (hospital, insurer or collector).
- Mark every legal point as something to confirm with a legal aid service or the official source.
- Point out simple fixes first, like wrong insurance details or missing bills.
- Draft a short, factual letter to the billing department and a senior contact.
- Check facts that can change (prices, opening hours, dates, availability, rules) against the official source, and tell me anything you couldn't verify.
- Ask about the hospital's financial assistance programme as a backup.

Output: A list of grounds with how sure you are about each, and a draft letter.

You'll know it worked when: the bill is corrected or waived and nothing goes on my credit record.

Before you finish: re-read my goal and constraints, check your answer against each one, and list anything you assumed or couldn't confirm.

Source

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/people-are-using-chatbots-to-fight-medical-bills-with-mixed-results/