New Nayya Research: 1 in 4 Employees Who Followed AI Benefits Advice Faced Unexpected Costs -- Some Exceeding $2,500

New Nayya research finds that 90% of employees are already using general AI tools for health and benefits decisions and the financial consequences of getting it wrong are landing directly on workers and, increasingly, their employers.

NEW YORK, May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Nayya, the AI-powered benefits experience platform, today released "Confident and Wrong: The Benefits Accuracy Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight," a national research report documenting what happens when employees turn to general AI for health and benefits guidance and the tool answers without knowing their actual plan. Among employees who followed AI advice that turned out to be incorrect, more than 1 in 4 faced unexpected out-of-pocket costs of $100 or more. Some reported losses exceeding $2,500.

The findings are based on two independent surveys conducted in April 2026: 995 full-time, benefits-eligible U.S. employees and 126 HR and benefits professionals, nationally representative by age, gender, household income, and region.

What the Research Found
The report's central finding is that general AI has become the default first stop for employees navigating health and financial decisions before HR, before plan documents, before carrier portals. Nine in ten employees say they already use AI for health or money questions, and 98% say AI is easier to understand than their official plan materials.

The problem: general AI tools aren't built for this. They have no visibility into the employer's plan documents, their networks, their formulary, or their specific benefits structure. They answer based on how insurance generally works, not how the employer's plan actually works. And 51% of employees say the guidance they received from general AI tools wasn't completely right.

The financial footprint of that inaccuracy is significant. More than one in four employees who followed incorrect AI guidance reported unexpected out-of-pocket costs of $100 or more. Some reported losses exceeding $2,500.

What makes the problem harder to solve: employees and employers aren't having the same conversation about who's responsible. Employees hold their employer accountable. Employers assume the employee will self-verify. Neither assumption has ever been communicated and with Open Enrollment approaching, neither side is prepared for the collision. 

"Employees have decided that AI is how they navigate their benefits. That's not going to change. What employers can control is whether the version their people are relying on was actually built for this." — Sarah Liebel, CEO, Nayya

About the Report

"Confident and Wrong" is available to download at nayya.com/confident-and-wrong. The full report includes a breakdown of how inaccurate AI guidance affects employees across the benefits lifecycle, a detailed look at the employer liability question, and a framework for what purpose-built benefits AI actually requires.

About Nayya

Founded in 2019, Nayya is on a mission to connect people's most important information, so they can thrive in their health and wealth. Nayya's platform is the first of its kind: agentic AI that doesn't just advise, it acts—transforming benefits from a once-a-year decision into an always-on advantage for every employee. As a trusted platform to leading employers, Nayya unlocks long-term value through helping employees live more resilient lives. Learn more at nayya.com.

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SOURCE Nayya