Is Crowdfunding The Grim Future of Health Insurance?

A growing number of people, mostly Americans, is forced to use crowdfunding sites to ask for money to cover medical expenses. While in many cases, the option is a potential source of hope binding people together for a good cause that would otherwise be lost due to financial reasons, the phenomenon also shows the desperate state of a healthcare system where victims of terrible illnesses have to “commodify” themselves on online donation forums. Should it stay that way? Should we fear for a dark future of health insurance in some parts of the world? The patchwork called crowdfunding Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Indiegogo, Crowdcube or FundRazr – crowdfunding platforms, which help finance an unimaginably broad range of projects from innovative solutions such as the ZapBox mixed reality headset and content as well as the guy raising money for his potato salad. According to Massolution (2015), a US research firm, there are over 1250 crowdfunding platforms around the world, having raised $16.2 billion in 2014, up 167% from $6.1 billion the previous year – and the sum is continuously going upwards. This progress is generated from growing uptake in North America and Europe as well as significant growth in Asia. The method of crowdfunding is appealing and straightforward: the project initiator kicks off an idea on a platform which transmits the message to the potential funders. Depending on the packaging of the concept, which presumes digital literacy and marketing skills, and the br...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Health Insurance Healthcare Design Social media in Healthcare crowdfunding digital health digital health insurance ethics future health data medical medical expenses Source Type: blogs