OpenAI Opens ChatGPT Health to All U.S. Users One Day After Lawsuit
The rollout comes as a Florida pastor sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT's medical advice nearly killed him.
OpenAI announced July 23 that ChatGPT Health is now available to all U.S. users over 18 across every plan tier—Free, Go, Plus, and Pro—on web and iOS. The expansion arrives one day after a Florida pastor filed a lawsuit alleging ChatGPT provided dangerous medical advice that delayed his treatment for a life-threatening pulmonary embolism.
From Hub to Main Chat
ChatGPT Health launched in January 2026 as a limited test in a dedicated hub where users could securely connect medical records and wellness apps. OpenAI said 70% of health-related queries were occurring outside that dedicated space, prompting the decision to integrate health capabilities into all conversations.
Users can now pull insights from connected health information in any ChatGPT chat. Supported integrations include Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal for wellness data, plus medical records from hospital systems like Epic and Oracle Health, and platforms including One Medical and Function Health.
Usage Surge
Health-related queries on ChatGPT jumped from 230 million per week in January to 300 million per week by July 2026, according to OpenAI. The company developed the feature with feedback from more than 260 physicians across 60 countries, who reviewed model outputs over 600,000 times. OpenAI also created HealthBench, an evaluation framework with physician-written rubrics to assess model performance on health tasks.
Paid users access GPT-5.6 Sol for health conversations, while free users get GPT-5.5 Instant. OpenAI states all GPT-5.6 models outperform GPT-5.5 on HealthBench Professional, with GPT-5.6 Sol being the strongest for health tasks. The company says connected health information and conversations using it are not used to train foundation models or target ads.
Lawsuit Looms
The announcement came as Scott Winters, a Florida pastor, sued OpenAI in federal court. Winters alleges ChatGPT discouraged him from seeking medical care for six weeks while blood clots developed in his lungs. He claims the chatbot told him to rest in a recliner and said only after 8-10 more episodes would his situation warrant professional attention.
Winters says he lost his pastoral position as a result of the medical crisis and faces years of physical and psychological recovery. His attorney, Meetali Jain of Tech Justice Law, said ChatGPT "injects itself as a wedge in between the user and their real-life network."
An OpenAI spokesperson told Quartz: "ChatGPT is not a doctor and should never be used as a substitute for medical care, diagnosis or treatment."
Broader Context
The case represents the first legal action arguing that a chatbot's advice directly harmed someone seeking medical guidance, potentially setting precedent for AI liability in healthcare. Competitors including Anthropic and Google have also launched healthcare AI features in 2026, as studies continue to highlight reliability concerns around AI-generated medical information.
For users like Blake, a technical program manager who tested the feature, the value lies in organization rather than diagnosis. "The most useful part has been turning scattered medical history into something I can actually understand and explain," Blake said. "ChatGPT helped connect those pieces into a clear timeline, explain the medical terms in plain English, and create summaries I could share with a physical therapist or trainer."