Medical Bills: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Dollar For led the Medical Bills AI benchmark in August 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 81.0%, down from 83.6% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand, Goodbill at 50.0%, stood at 31.0 percentage points in August 2026.

The largest coverage increase came from CareRoute, which rose to 12.1% in August 2026, up from 1.8% in July 2026. The largest coverage decline was Goodbill, which fell to 50.0% in August 2026, down from 60.0% in July 2026.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month. August 2026 produced 58 qualified observations after qualification, compared with 55 in July 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. In August 2026, the benchmark captured four families: ChatGPT, Copilot, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Medical Bills

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations move from the raw collection to the public denominator.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology for full details.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in the AI response, regardless of recommendation.
• Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which the AI response recommends the brand.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in the top three recommended placements.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommended placement.
• Net sentiment is the ratio of positive to negative mentions in responses where the brand appears.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: CareRoute

CareRoute's valid recommendation coverage rose to 12.1% in August 2026, up from 1.8% in July 2026, a move beyond normal month-to-month variation. This increase was supported by a rise in presence rate, which climbed to 24.1% in August 2026, up from 7.3% in July 2026. Among 58 qualified observations, CareRoute received 7 valid recommendation mentions in August 2026, compared with 1 in July 2026.

Category Leader: Dollar For

Dollar For remained the category leader in August 2026, with valid recommendation coverage of 81.0%, compared with 83.6% in July 2026 — a change within normal month-to-month variation. Dollar For's top-three rate rose to 19.0% in August 2026, up from 1.8% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate rose to 13.8% in August 2026, up from 1.8% in July 2026. Dollar For's presence rate was 82.8% in August 2026, compared with 98.2% in July 2026. The brand held the leading recommendation coverage position in both months.

Clearity Health: No Measured Presence in the Category

Clearity Health recorded 0.0% valid recommendation coverage, 0.0% presence rate, 0.0% top-three rate, 0.0% rank-one rate, and 0.00 net sentiment in both July 2026 and August 2026. Across 58 qualified observations in August 2026, Clearity Health did not appear in a single tracked AI response.

Dollar For records 81.0% valid recommendation coverage, while Clearity Health stands at 0.0%. The more important issue is what that gap means for Clearity Health's recommendation position: every other tracked brand in this category has at least some measured presence in AI-generated answers — including Granted Health, the next-weakest brand, at 1.7% coverage — while Clearity Health has none. This is a measurable competitive gap on the category's most commercially important metric, and it has not moved across the two measurement periods on record.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Why is Clearity Health entirely absent from AI-generated recommendation responses in this category, while five tracked competitors — including one at just 1.7% coverage — have already established some measured presence?

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The table below shows where leading brands appear in recommendation order.

In August 2026, Dollar For was recommended in the top three in 11 of 58 qualified observations and first in 8, while Goodbill was recommended in the top three in 9 observations and first in 2, despite comparable top-three coverage. Similar coverage levels can still hide different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

In both months, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class of discovery.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or attributable sales
• Every possible AI response to a given prompt
• Organic-search ranking positions
• Social media mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral industry benchmark that tracks how AI-powered search and answer surfaces present and recommend brands across verticals. It records presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment using a transparent, reproducible methodology.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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