Medicare enrollment is coming to new federal AI chatbot on new America.gov site

Key takeaways

The White House launched America.gov, a chatbot built on Gemini and Grok that answers questions from roughly 29,000 federal websites, and an executive order requires agencies to connect any online service reaching more than 100,000 people a year. Medicare enrollment is slated for later this year, with benefits applications and tracking due in early 2027, and CMS is promoting doctor lookup, appointment booking and drug price comparison for verified users. CBS News testing found the chatbot handles paperwork and deadlines well but stumbles on health questions where federal sources conflict, including a court-paused hepatitis B guidance and an outdated reading of the $35 insulin cap.

President Trump has launched the AI chatbot America.gov, and it is meant to become the one place Americans go online for federal services. Medicare enrollment is among the first tasks the White House says it will handle.

An executive order signed the same day requires agencies to connect any service the public uses online that reaches more than 100,000 people a year. The order excludes IRS tax filing, the Department of War, and the intelligence community. It never names the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), but both agencies came up at the launch event.

America.gov answers questions today but can’t yet complete transactions

For now, the site answers questions. People can ask about things like Medicare eligibility with no account needed, and the chatbot draws its answers solely from government material across roughly 29,000 federal websites, with Gemini and Grok models powering it.

America.gov can’t complete transactions yet. One civic technologist wrote on social media that when he tested a VA disability claim, the chatbot simply sent him to the VA’s website.

Medicare enrollment is planned, and CMS is promoting doctor lookup and scheduling

The White House fact sheet says Americans will be able to enroll in Medicare on the site later this year. A broader second phase, which adds applying for and tracking benefits inside the chatbot, is due in early 2027, according to the site’s roadmap.

At the launch event, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz showed how people would verify their identity through Login.gov and pass that verification to CMS, the Social Security Administration, and the VA. He also promoted features that show verified users nearby doctors who take Medicare, let them book appointments, check drug prices side by side, and find pharmacies that stock their medications.

“For 165 million Americans, you get Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare. We want these systems eventually to integrate and be able to help so many Americans,” Oz said.

Oz argued the site will serve people better than the Medicare mailers CMS sends out each year at a cost of about $100 million. He also told reporters he wants CMS to be as open as it can about the Medicare plans the site highlights and to make it difficult for insurers to manipulate those listings.

The order and fact sheet don’t say how appointment booking would connect to the systems doctors and hospitals use.

The executive order keeps personal records with each federal agency, not in one central system

The order says each agency keeps its own records and systems, and that pulling services together must not result in one central federal repository of Americans’ records. It also calls for collecting as little personal data as needed, secure sign-in, and authorization that can be audited. Phone, mail, and in-person options stay in place.

The site doesn’t save conversations or use web tracking, according to its privacy page.

CBS News testing found the chatbot’s health answers falter when federal sources conflict

The order says the technology behind the site must be “accurate, reliable, and transparent.” CBS News tested that standard with 37 health questions.

The chatbot handled some questions well. Asked about chest pain along with numbness in the left arm, it led with an instruction to call 911. It also explained when to sign up for Part D and how to appeal a Medicaid decision.

It struggled where official sources conflict. On vaccines and autism, it found CDC pages that say different things and declined to pick one. Asked how it settles such conflicts, the chatbot said it defers first to the agency in charge of a program and then to whichever official page is newest. That second rule led it astray on the newborn hepatitis B shot. A federal court put the newer CDC guidance on hold in March, and the chatbot left that ruling out.

It also described Medicare’s $35 insulin cap as applying to “participating plans.” That language fits an older voluntary pilot, CBS reported, while a 2022 law made the cap apply across all Part D plans.

The CBS medical correspondent who ran the test advised using the site for paperwork and dates and taking health questions to a clinician. A White House official told CBS the site will keep being updated.

The order gives the Office of Management and Budget 90 days to tell agencies how to connect their services. The chatbot is already answering health questions.