Medical crowdfunding: The way ahead

It’s a way to offer a chance of decent healthcare to everyone. It’s a way to fight the disparity which exists in the system and provide a solution to the existing challenges. It’s crowdfunding!

With the advancement of crowdfunding technology, it is now possible to open a medical fundraising campaign in less than five minutes and the success rate is much higher. Medical crowdfunding is a viable option to finance volition, reciprocal, experimental and scientifically inadequately supported curatives not financed by the health insurance fund.

Medical crowdfunding has surfaced as a growing field for fundraising options with several environmental trends having driven the emergence of juggernauts to raise finances for medical care. These trends include lack of medical insurance, profitable counter-reaction following the 2008 fiscal collapse, and failings of healthcare regulations.

With the concept of healthcare insurance still being unknown to lower and middle class people leaving 75 per cent of healthcare expenditure coming from the pockets of households, crowdfunding is shaping the healthcare system of India by offering a chance of decent healthcare to one and all. Medical crowdfunding in many ways is fighting the disparity which exists in the healthcare system and giving an alternative solution to the challenges.

A very recent example includes that of Hridayansh — a 23-month-old who was administered an injection worth Rs 17.50 crore at JK Lon Hospital in Jaipur.

Medical practitioner Priyanshu Mathur, in charge of the Rare Disease Unit in the hospital, and his team administered the injection of Zol Genesma, which was imported from America.

Hridayansh suffers from a rare disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). His family worked round the clock to raise the mammoth funds via crowdfunding.

His parents Naresh Sharma and Shama came to know about this rare disorder when Hridayansh turned six. The hapless parents took him to the doctor and came to know about this rare disorder.

Hridayansh’s family had launched a crowd-funding campaign on social media to buy the injection. Indian cricketers Deepak Chahar and Sarfaraz Khan had also appealed to save the child’s life.

In the face of medical emergencies, financial constraints often exacerbate the stress and anxiety of the situation. This is where medical crowdfunding emerges as a beacon of hope, offering much-needed financial relief while also fostering a sense of community and compassion. By leveraging technology, medical crowdfunding platforms empower individuals to reach out to a wider pool of compassionate individuals, breaking down geographical barriers and connecting people in need with those willing to help. This intersection of technology not only facilitates access to essential healthcare but also cultivates a shared sense of responsibility towards each other’s well-being.

Amid the rising healthcare costs, medical crowdfunding platforms have proven to be a boon for patients raising funds for the treatment of various diseases such as cancer, rare diseases, accidents, and transplant procedures. The beauty of crowdfunding lies in its collective nature. It’s not just about one person donating a large sum of money, but about a large pool of people coming together to donate small amounts. This collective effort can quickly add up to a substantial sum, making a significant difference in someone’s life.

On the other hand, an analysis of the most common conditions and diseases listed in crowdfunding campaigns might give guidance for public health insurance finances in extending their list of funded medical interventions. The fact of multitudinous individualities launching crowdfunding campaigns with the same conditions and diseases signals high unmet requirements for available but not yet financed treatment.

Recently, the US Department of Health & Human Services released a report touting that the national uninsured rate reached an all-time low of 8 per cent with only 26.4 million Americans still lacking coverage. This sounds like good news, but a deeper dive shows an enormous shift from private to taxpayer-funded government-subsidised coverage that has a lacklustre history of containing health spending and delivering good health outcomes.

Thanks to the pandemic and the American Rescue Plan Act, Medicaid enrollment surged with 24 million new enrollees as states have not been able to remove individuals that no longer qualify, and another two million opted into ObamaCare exchange plans.

It is important to remember that having an insurance card is not the same thing as having access to care. And the incentives for traditional health insurance plans are not set to lower the cost of healthcare in the long run. As a result, innovative companies are emerging that are introducing new ways to both contain healthcare spending and also ensure positive outcomes.

America needs to encourage patients to be smart healthcare consumers. There is a need for communities that leverage their combined consumer power to get better deals. Crowdfunding offers a potential solution that can do just that.

Traditional health insurance does not function like any other kind of insurance. Auto and life insurance are designed to compensate a policyholder in the case of an unlikely event like a car crash or unexpected death. By contrast, health insurance often pays the first dollar for routine, preventive services as well as more expensive catastrophic treatments.

Healthcare prices have gotten so out of hand that most patients want a third-party health insurance plan to pay for basics like a prescription or lab test. Essentially, when Americans opt into a traditional health plan they are pre-paying their healthcare spending to a middle-man to pay an even larger sum of money to providers, which gets collected in the form of higher premiums the next year. The economics only spur healthcare price inflation.

Technology, interestingly, has emerged as a crucial tool in facilitating medical crowdfunding. Online crowdfunding platforms enable individuals to create fundraising campaigns, reaching out to a wider audience for financial support. Social media amplifies these efforts, allowing for greater visibility and donations from across the globe. Moreover, digital payment systems streamline the process, ensuring secure transactions.

This democratisation of medical fundraising transcends geographical limitations, empowering individuals to receive aid from anywhere in the world. Technology facilitates seamless communication and financial transactions, ensuring that contributions reach those in need efficiently. This intersection of technology and medical crowdfunding underscores its transformative potential, providing a lifeline for individuals facing overwhelming medical expenses and highlighting the interconnectedness of humanity in addressing healthcare challenges.

A curious finding is that the campaigns that succeeded fastest were based mainly in cities with more income inequality. The reason could be many people invest in crowdfunding because they see it as an opportunity to help reduce inequality. Some researchers also found that high fundraising targets tend to make success less likely. A possible solution would be to try to raise a large amount in two or more campaigns. The number of rewards may also influence the outcome. The greater the variety of “giveaways” offered in exchange for donations, the less time it takes for a successful campaign to achieve the target.

Research is on to develop a model to predict success using an Artificial Intelligence methodology. Crowdfunding platforms may soon be offered an algorithm that will help them, even before a campaign begins, to have an estimate of how successful it will be. Time is the essence of any campaign.

Successful crowdfunding campaigns tend to follow a formula. They are written on behalf of a clearly deserving beneficiary (mothers, children and sole breadwinners are at the top of the hierarchy) who has cancer or a genetic condition — anything debilitating, urgent and not their fault. Appeals are made in the language of conflict: the sick struggle valiantly, they are heroic in battle, and they are brave. And who can take away the comfort in crowdfunding bringing people together?

Views expressed are personal