Crowd-funding health care

[Ohiogal]

"The lengths to which the family has gone to raise the funds — including the GoFundMe appeal, a related Facebook page and the public reportage of Andrew’s lemonade stand and the family’s medical needs — should shame America. But not because so many of us haven’t contributed to their cause. What’s shameful is the need of families in positions like the Emerys’ to turn to public fundraising for expenses that should be covered by public funds.

We’ve reported before on the drawbacks of relying for medical needs on public appeals for help. The Emery case places them again in sharp relief. This isn’t to suggest that the family has done anything wrong, or that the more than 500 donors who have contributed to their campaign should have held on to their money.

Rather, it’s to point out that public crowdfunding is the most inefficient and systematically unjust means of distributing resources for healthcare. It perpetuates the worst aspects of the American healthcare system and reduces pressure on lawmakers to fix them.

What should make South Carolinians prouder? That they’ve raised a few thousand dollars for a single family, or left 447,000 of their fellow residents without adequate care?"

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-crowdfunding-20180604-story.html