Hospitals’ use of artificial intelligence tools as they submit insurance claims led to an additional $942 million in healthcare spending over a two-year period, according to an analysis by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

The BCBSA analysis found “a sharp increase in patients being documented as having complex conditions,” but argued there is a “clear disconnect between [medical] coding and treatment,” as there’s “no evidence of corresponding change in care delivered.”

The New York Times pointed the analysis as just the latest sign that AI is contributing to an increase in healthcare costs. While battles between hospitals and insurers over treatments and payments are nothing new, the NYT said the use of AI on both sides seems to be making it worse.

Dr. Shiv Rao, founder of AI startup Abridge, acknowledged that the use of AI could lead to “a horrible dystopic future nobody wants to live in,” with “bots fighting bots, agents fighting agents.” But Rao said it might also reduce tensions and cut costs.

And the BCBSA’s senior vice president Luke Chalker resisted characterizing the situation as a battle, claiming, “It’s not a war. It’s a completely one-sided blood bath,” with insurers on the losing side.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, in Enugu State has commended the peaceful and orderly conduct of Saturday’s local government elections in areas monitored by the party, describing the exercise as transparent and credible.

The state chairman of the party, Dr. Johnpaul Ani, gave the commendation after casting his ballot at Unit 002, Amaetiti Town Hall, Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state.

Ani said the voting process in his polling unit and the wider Nkanu West area was peaceful, orderly and hitch-free, while commending the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) for the conduct of the exercise.

“First, my assessment of the process is that the process was peaceful, transparent and credible, the way I voted,” Ani said.

“I want to commend the commission, ENSIEC, for conducting such a hitch-free exercise,” he addedm

The NDC chairman, however, alleged that the party received reports of access denial involving some of its officials in some local government areas.

He said the affected party officials were allegedly prevented from accessing local government council headquarters where election materials were being distributed to wards and polling units.

Ani mentioned Aninri, Nkanu East and Isi-Uzo as some of the areas from which the party received such reports.

According to him, the party had brought the allegations to the attention of the relevant authorities and urged ENSIEC to investigate them.

“We are calling on ENSIEC to do more to investigate this situation and then bring the perpetrators of this act to book,” he said.

He also alleged that reports reaching the party indicated that election materials had not reached some polling units in parts of the affected local government areas as of the time he spoke.

Ani, however, said the situation in Nkanu West was different, noting that election materials were delivered to all polling units in the local government.

“But in Nkanu West, where I am and where I voted, materials got into every polling unit in the local government,” he said.

He said the NDC had deployed agents to polling units where it fielded candidates and that its agents monitored the voting, counting and movement of results to ward collation centres.

Ani expressed confidence in the party’s performance, saying it fielded candidates it believed understood the concerns of the electorate.

“For us in NDC, we are confident that we will win this election at the end of the day because we have done a campaign. We fielded credible candidates; we fielded people that understand what the masses want,” he said.

He said the party would await the official declaration of results by ENSIEC before deciding on any further action.

“As it is right now, ENSIEC is leading in some areas. Of course, we can’t win all. But we know where we have fielded candidates that we are confident we will win at the end of the day,” Ani said.

Meanwhile, as of the time of filing this report, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sunday Aniachi, emerged winner in Akpugo Ward 5 as tue councillor-elect, with NDC winning some polling units.