GoFundMe Has Become a Health Care Utility

From Dreams to Medical Bills: How GoFundMe Changed
GoFundMe launched as a crowdfunding site for “life’s important moments” like honeymoons, graduation gifts, and mission trips. Over time, it has become synonymous with fundraising for medical expenses.

• In 2011, only a few thousand medical campaigns existed.
• By 2020, the annual number had grown to 200,000 campaigns, a 25x increase.
• Today, the most common type of fundraiser on GoFundMe is for medical bills, treatment, and healthcare emergencies.

What began as a platform for dreams has evolved into an informal health care safety net.

Medical Costs Driving Crowdfunding Reliance
Crowdfunding for health care is no longer unusual—it is normalized. Patients are told to “start a GoFundMe” as if it were a routine step in managing health bills.

• Families have turned to GoFundMe for $2.1M gene therapies, life-saving surgeries, and surprise hospital bills.
• Patient advocates and even hospital financial aid officers now recommend crowdfunding as an alternative to collections.
• Yet, the average U.S. campaign only raises about 40% of its goal, leaving patients still deep in debt.

This shift highlights a broken health system—one where affordability is increasingly out of reach.

Real Stories of Medical Crowdfunding

• Andrea Coy, Colorado: After a $65,000 air ambulance bill, Coy’s family resorted to GoFundMe. Despite insurance covering $28,000, the remaining balance left them in debt, and crowdfunding offered only partial relief.
• Mary Lou Retton, Olympic Gymnast: Raised $460,000 for an ICU stay—illustrating how fame drives campaign success.
• Carol Justice, Oregon: Faced an unexpected $18,000 surgery bill despite insurance. Her GoFundMe raised just $1,400, barely covering one payment.

These cases show the disparity: campaign success often depends on social networks, visibility, and influence—not need.

Inequality in Health Care Crowdfunding
GoFundMe unintentionally amplifies socioeconomic disparities:

• Wealthy, well-connected patients can raise large sums quickly.
• Middle-class and working families often see limited results.
• Most campaigns fail to meet targets, leaving families still facing bankruptcy or debt collections.

Even GoFundMe executives acknowledge the flaws. Former CEO Rob Solomon admitted:
“I would love nothing more than for ‘medical’ to not be a category on GoFundMe. The system is terrible. It needs to be rethought.”

Yet the company remains a for-profit venture capital-backed business, not a public health solution.

What This Means for America’s Health System
The normalization of GoFundMe for medical bills underscores a dangerous truth: crowdfunding is filling gaps left by a failing healthcare system.

• The No Surprises Act (2022) protects patients from some balance billing, but gaps remain.
• Rising healthcare costs continue to push families into debt.
• Crowdfunding is not scalable or equitable—it offers temporary relief, not systemic solutions.

Until healthcare access and affordability are addressed through policy and employer-based solutions, GoFundMe will continue to function as an unofficial, inequitable “healthcare utility.”

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