[rad-green] 'Barbaric': 8 Million Americans Have Been Forced to Start Crowdfunding Campaigns to Cover Medical Costs, Survey Shows

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/19/barbaric-8-million-americans-have-been-forced-start-crowdfunding-campaigns-cover
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/19/barbaric-8-million-americans-have-been-forced-start-crowdfunding-campaigns-cover>Common
Dreams          February 19, 2020'Barbaric': 8 Million Americans Have Been
Forced to Start Crowdfunding Campaigns to Cover Medical Costs, Survey
Shows"No one should have to beg for money to get the healthcare they need
in the richest country on Earth."by Jake Johnson, staff writer*

*Nurses use Band-Aids to attach GoFundMe pages to the headquarters of
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in Washington, D.C.
(Photo: National Nurses United/Twitter)*

An estimated eight million people in the U.S. have started a crowdfunding
campaign to help pay for their own or a member of their household's
healthcare costs, according to a survey
<https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/millions-of-americans-donate-through-crowdfunding-sites-to-help-others-pay-for-medical-bills.aspx>
released
Wednesday.

The poll, which was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center
(NORC) at the University of Chicago, also found that in addition to the
millions who have launched crowdfunding efforts for themselves or a member
of their household, at least 12 million more Americans have started
crowdfunding efforts for someone else.

Fifty million Americans have donated to such fundraising efforts, the
survey showed.

"As annual out-of-pocket costs continue to rise, more Americans are
struggling to pay their medical bills, and millions are turning to their
social networks and crowdfunding sites to fund medical treatments and pay
medical bills," Mollie Hertel, senior research scientist at NORC, said in a
statement
<https://www.norc.org/NewsEventsPublications/PressReleases/Pages/millions-of-americans-donate-through-crowdfunding-sites-to-help-others-pay-for-medical-bills.aspx>.
"Although about a quarter of Americans report having sponsored or donated
to a campaign, this share is likely to increase in the face of rising
premiums and out-of-pocket costs."

We live in a barbaric society at the mercy of billionaires
https://t.co/kARJZZbFHj

— StrikeDebt (@StrikeDebt) February 19, 2020
<https://twitter.com/StrikeDebt/status/1230152918491369473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate,
tweeted <https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1230205113848995840> in
response to the survey that "no one should have to beg for money to get the
health care they need in the richest country on Earth."

"Enough is enough," Sanders wrote. "Medicare for All now."

The survey found that 60% of Americans believe the government—not
charities, family members, or friends—has a "great deal or a lot of
responsibility" to provide "help when medical care is unaffordable."

"I have to presume that most crowdfunding campaigns fail," tweeted
<https://twitter.com/crulge/status/1230163802466983936> single-payer
advocate Tim Faust. "So here's the future of American healthcare: costs
keep going up; they keep being pushed onto patients by insurers; whether
you drown in medical debt is a function of luck, popularity, and how much
sympathy you can garner."

As she introduced the House version of the Medicare for All Act of 2019
last February, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) lamented
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/27/because-gofundme-becoming-one-most-popular-insurance-plans-us-jayapal-introduces>
that
"GoFundMe is becoming one of the most popular insurance plans in the
country."

"It comes down to a profit-making motive that is baked into a system—a
system that puts profits over patients," said Jayapal.

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