Despite the financial hardships that many Americans experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, 45 million still donated to medical crowdfunding campaigns last year, survey results suggested.
Among more 1,000 members of a population-representative panel, 18% reported donating to a crowdfunding campaign raising money for a medical bill or treatment, reported Susan Cahn, DrPH, and Mollie Hertel, AM, MPP, of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago.
The average number of donations per donor was about 1.4; 28% of donors contributed to two or more efforts.
Nearly 40% of people who donated to a medical crowdfunding campaign were from households with annual income less than $60,000. Of those who donated, 36% were not working (either unemployed or retired) and 6% had no health insurance at the time the survey was taken.
Among individuals who contributed funds to medical crowdfunding, 52% reported donating to raise money for a friend. Around 30% donated to someone they didn't know personally, 22% donated to an acquaintance, 14% donated to a relative, and 8% donated to a co-worker.
"This demonstrates that even during the pandemic, Americans continued to try to help their friends, families, and strangers pay for medical care and treatment," Cahn told MedPage Today. Cahn added that continued trends of medical crowdfunding donations across the last year was striking, as many people were faced with financial challenges including paying for their own medical expenses and losing access to insurance.
Many people have turned to crowdfunding campaigns to help them afford rising out-of-pocket medical costs, via websites such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and GoFundMe. In 2019, the CEO of GoFundMe said one-third of all donations to the site were for medical expenses.
Survey results from NORC last year showed nearly identical participation in medical crowdfunding. While the researchers expected that figure to fluctuate during the pandemic due to financial challenges, that metric remained consistent.
For the current report, surveyors interviewed 1,028 members of NORC's AmeriSpeak probability-based panel. All of the survey respondents were interviewed in December 2020, were 18 years or older, and spoke English.
Cancer was the most common condition for which people supported crowdfunding campaigns, with 39% donating funds to this cause. Additionally, 35% contributed to expenses for accidents or workplace injuries, 19% for heart disease, and 11% for mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
Among those who started a medical crowdfunding campaign, nearly one-third sought to raise money for someone with COVID-19. Approximately 21% of people who started a campaign did so for accidents and injuries, 20% for cancer, and 10% for diabetes. The report gave no estimates for dollar amounts donated, however, either overall or for specific conditions or types of expenses.
Cahn said that while crowdfunding is not a systemic solution to unaffordable healthcare, it's popular because "Americans know that there are gaps in insurance and people have really significant needs."
"While Americans continue to donate to help friends and family and strangers, they think that the government and healthcare providers have a great deal of responsibility to deal with healthcare affordability," she said.