MSc PH Student, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor and Professor in Health Economics, College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, UK.
J Health Serv Res Policy. 2020 Jul;25(3):181-186. doi: 10.1177/1355819619897949. Epub 2020 Jan 28.
Crowdfunding for medical care is a new phenomenon but increasingly used by individuals to seek financial help to cover the costs of health care. Ethical concerns have been raised about medical crowdfunding, including implications for equity, resource allocation, medical decision-making, the promotion of non-evidence based therapies, platforms' lack of transparency and corporate interests. Medical crowdfunding efforts may point to shortcomings in health service provision, but they tend to have wider motivations and implications. However, there is no firm evidence base for establishing answers to even the most basic questions, such as who is seeking funds, for what, where and why. In this Essay, we provide an introduction to medical crowdfunding in the United Kingdom (UK). We synthesize what is currently known and the insights that might be gained from an exploratory review of 400 medical crowdfunding campaigns on the GoFundMe UK website: for instance, whether medical crowdfunding occurs in response to gaps in service provision, supports 'queue jumping' and how it relates to 'medical tourism'. We conclude with a call for research on medical crowdfunding in the UK (and elsewhere) as a means to better understand patients' perceived or actual unmet need for health and social care and inform policy development.
医疗众筹是一种新现象，但越来越多的个人开始利用这种方式寻求资金援助，以支付医疗费用。医疗众筹引发了一些伦理问题，包括对公平性、资源配置、医疗决策、促进非循证疗法、平台缺乏透明度和企业利益的影响。医疗众筹活动可能表明医疗服务提供存在不足，但它们往往具有更广泛的动机和影响。然而，即使是最基本的问题，例如谁在寻求资金、为了什么、在哪里以及为什么，也没有确凿的证据基础来确定答案。在本文中，我们介绍了英国（UK）的医疗众筹。我们综合了目前已知的信息，并从对 GoFundMe UK 网站上的 400 个医疗众筹活动的探索性回顾中获得了一些见解：例如，医疗众筹是否是为了弥补服务提供的不足、支持“插队”以及它与“医疗旅游”的关系。最后，我们呼吁对英国（和其他地方）的医疗众筹进行研究，以便更好地了解患者对健康和社会护理的实际或感知到的未满足需求，并为政策制定提供信息。
