An AI-powered physical exam at Neko Health cost $499 and included a skin and body-composition scan, heart, blood and metabolic tests, followed by a physician review in front of a 3D image. The Swedish company, founded by Spotify's Daniel Ek and CEO Hjalmar Nilsonne, opened its first U.S. clinic in Manhattan on Tuesday.
Nilsonne said the goal is to create 'this almost magical consumer experience around health care' and to 'democratize high-quality preventive health care' for millions or hundreds of millions of people. The pitch lands at a moment when health care is getting more expensive, jobs are becoming less secure, and aging populations are pressuring tax revenue and consumer behavior.
The broader numbers make the stakes clear. The Trump administration announced plans this week to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees from public health care exchanges as part of a crackdown on fraud. At the same time, large U.S. employers expect a median 9.2% increase in health care costs next year, according to the nonprofit Business Group on Health, and about half expect to pass those costs onto workers.
That is the real market backdrop for every promise of AI in medicine. Fortune reported that AI is saving at least 132 hours annually for half of the health care professionals surveyed in the 2026 Philips Future Health Index, with respondents saying they see more patients and make fewer mistakes. If that translates into lower costs and better access, capital will reward it quickly.
Mark Cuban is already trying to force that outcome. He told Fortune that Cost Plus Drugs has expanded beyond direct-to-patient pharmacy into manufacturing, lowering the price of 190 medications as volume has increased. He said the company is making money, in part thanks to demand generated by TrumpRx, but said that is not the point. 'My mission is just to fuck up health care,' he said.
Other companies are moving in the same direction. Walmart is emphasizing nutrition and a Health Ambassador pilot to make health care more accessible. Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel said the company is investing in organic foods, higher pay, apprenticeship programs and cheap health care, while Amazon is also creating AI-powered health care offerings for consumers. Health care spending is expected to hit $6 trillion this year.
The market has already voted on the old model: high friction, high cost, and too much complexity for the patient. AI will not fix Washington's policy failures, but it may expose them by making a simpler, more transparent alternative harder to ignore. For consumers, that is the promise. For the taxpayer and the employer, it is the difference between care that scales and a system that keeps compounding costs.
