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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Nathan Place

GoFundMe as health insurance: Why so many Americans turn to crowdfunding for medical care

Getty/iStock

In the United States, the news is full of inspiring stories about GoFundMe – tales of communities pulling together to pay for someone’s life-saving medicine, operation, or treatment. It’s the heartwarming flipside to the broader story of American healthcare, in which medicine is a for-profit industry and patients risk dying if they can’t pay their bills.

That context is usually left out, as well as another detail: such fundraisers usually fail.

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