Crowdfunding Helps Patients with Medical Debt

Turning to friends, family, and the community to raise funds to pay medical bills has been around since ancient times. The internet now has made it easier than ever.

There are now several websites devoted to helping people raise money for various causes, and many of them are finding a booming business in crowdfunding for healthcare. Sites such as GoFundMe, Human Tribe Project, FundRazr, and GiveForward are regularly employed to fundraise for medical debt or upcoming expenses.

GoFundMe’s “Medical, Illness & Healing” category is the site’s most popular and raises millions of dollars month, the website’s CEO, Brad Damphousse, told the New Jersey Star Ledger.

“Just as we share parts of our lives on Facebook, we also want to share our dreams, pursuits, celebrations and challenges online with crowdfunding,” Damphousse said. “People will always be eager to support others they care about.”

“Most fundraisers are raising money from people they actually know,” YouCaring spokesman Michael Blasco told the newspaper. “The most generous donations typically come from people who are close to families.” On his site more than half of all fundraising requests are medical-related, he said.

If the internet does not work, there is always nude modeling for artists. Several Chinese publications have published the story of a farmer, Zhao Changle, who poses for artists to raise money for his son’s medical bills.

Previously:

One More Way to Help Patients Cope with Bills: Crowd Funding