A Crowdfunding Site To Help Pay Patients' Medical Bills

Lucas123 writes: A start-up financial services company called Someone With Group has just completed a pilot of a crowdfunding service that allows hospitals to set up campaigns to help patients pay their medical expenses. The website, which is HIPAA compliant in terms of privacy and security, allows patients facing medical debts to inform family, friends and even strangers of their need for funds versus flowers or cards. The crowdfunding service also addresses a systemic debt issue in the healthcare industry. Each year, the U.S. healthcare industry writes off $40 billion in bad debt from unpaid medical bills. "Then you consider that $6 billion is spent on cards and flowers for patients every year. Why can't we redirect that money and put it into a debit instrument restricted to medical spending only?" said Jagemann-Bane, CEO of Someone With Group. One hospital group, Pinnacle Health Systems in Harrisburg, Penn., routinely writes off $40 million to $50 million a year in unpaid medical bills from patients. The hospital set up a crowdfunding site via Someone With Group and so far has seen a couple dozen patients use it. ... After a one-year pilot of the crowdfunding service, patients who've used it on average have raised $2,315.

Comments

Re:The Bake Sale Model

[damn_registrars]

1. Use real costs. The fact that there is an "insurance cost" and a "self pay costs" tells us all we need to know about medical bills. They aren't tied to the actual cost of service in any meaningful way.

The problem with that is that a lot of people who end up in bankruptcy over medical costs have insurance. Their rates are already discounted for their insurance, but they can't afford their deductibles, copays, or uncovered expenses. Even if everyone paid the same price, that problem wouldn't go away.

On top of that, as the primary mission of every insurance company in the country is to make money - not to provide coverage for the patient (as that costs money) - the insurance companies are constantly searching for clever new ways to deny claims. Being as the federal government essentially gave the insurance industry a license to print money back in 2010 with the affordable care act, they now have free reign to try whatever they want to "bring costs down".

Re: Repeal and Replace.

[ShanghaiBill]

health is not something that can or should be traded on the free market.

America's healthcare system is about as far as you can get from a free market. Patients have no ability to compare prices, or even know what services cost when they are provided. If socialized medicine was the sole answer, America would have a wonderful healthcare system, because our government spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world, and is near the top in per-capita government medical spending as well. Our medical system is bloated, inefficient, and bureaucratic, and at 18% of GDP it is bigger than the entire economy of Canada. If our medical system became as efficient and effective as other developed countries, it would wipe out 10% of our economy, and eliminate the jobs of more than 7 million well paid people. There is a huge amount of inertia and resistance to change.

Re: Repeal and Replace.

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously you have perfect health, were not born with generic issues and have never needed to have your appendix removed, or never had emergency surgery for an anatomic issue that caused a medical emergency. Not all medical bills are caused by not taking care of yourself.

Re:DNR ignored. $300,000 win.

[Anonymous Coward]

If the DNR was legally executed, then this is Medicare fraud. Did your family report this to the government or even to the local media?

Re: Repeal and Replace.

[budgenator]

The people of Flint are poisoned because they habitually elect corrupt city officials, just like the people of Detroit.

In 1963, Flint moved to build a pipeline from Lake Huron to Flint, but a profiteering scandal derailed that pipeline. This led the city to sign a contract to purchase water for 30 years from the Detroit Water Department on June 6, 1964 ... March 2010, former pipeline supporter and former Genesee County Drain Commissioner Ken Hardin came out against the project, based on the City of Flint's poor financial condition. Instead, he recommended that the county seek a seat on a regional water board with Detroit. Karegnondi Water Authority

everything was fine when they were getting their water from DWSD

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is a sprawling network covering 1,079 square-miles,[1][2] servicing more than 40 percent of the U.S. state of Michigan's population,[1] and employing over 3,000 people.[3] DWSD is one of the most extensive and largest water and sewage systems in the United States.[1] Along with serving the entire city of Detroit, it also serves the counties of Genesee, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Wayne, St. Clair, Lapeer and Monroe.[1] In 2000, The network comprised 11,000 miles of water mains and a storage capacity of 363 million gallons.[4] Detroit Water and Sewerage Department

but

In March 2013, the Flint city council voted to switch their water supply from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) to the new $233 million Lake Huron-sourced Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA).[7] The switch was approved by the Flint emergency manager. ... State Treasurer Andy Dillon approved Flint joining KWA but gave DWSD the opportunity to make a final offer to convince Flint to stay on Detroit water.[11] Flint declined the final DWSD offer. Immediately after Flint declined the offer, DWSD gave Flint notice that their long-standing water agreement would terminate in twelve months.[12] This meant that Flint's water agreement with Detroit would end in April 2014 but construction of KWA was not expected to be completed until the end of 2016. Therefore, in April 2014 (when the water agreement terminated), Flint switched their water supply from DWSD to Flint's backup supply, the Flint River. The Flint river was expected to supply potable water until KWA construction was completed in 2016. Flint water crisis

So the set up was two cities in bankruptcy were fighting over money and turf. The coup de grâce was the idiots at the Flint water treatment plant who did add the extra phosphates to protect the lead pipes from the extra salt in the Flint River as required by law and the idiots at DEQ who didn't follow protocols when high lead levels were detected.

The only way to really fix the problem is to rip out the lead pipes, under the streets in the entire city of Flint, all of the household plumbing with lead based soldered joints and replace them. I also doubt the Karegnondi pipeline is going to be finished this year, they are barely working on the first pumping station by the lake inlet and the electrical substation hasn't got any equipment installed.