美国国家公共电台 NPR Patients Are Turning To GoFundMe To Fill Health Insurance Gaps

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

According to GoFundMe, 1 of every 3 of its online campaigns is now related to medical expenses. Some appeals are for people who say they don't have health insurance. Others say they have big bills left over after insurance or treatments their insurance won't cover. Mark Zdechlik of Minnesota Public Radio reports.

MARK ZDECHLIK, BYLINE¹: Browsing² the medical section of GoFundMe's web page is heartbreaking. There are stories upon stories of tragic³ illness and financial hardship. Health care economist⁴ Sara Collins with the Commonwealth⁵ Fund finds the trend worrisome.

SARA COLLINS: It shouldn't be surprising that people are raising funds through crowdsourcing, but it really should be a deep concern for policymakers and providers.

ZDECHLIK: Most medical appeals follow a pattern. There's a picture of someone who is ill, an explanation of what's wrong, how much money is needed and what donations will be spent on.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAROLYN DEAL'S "WATER FAIRIES")

ZDECHLIK: Carolyn Deal of Marshall, N.C., included a recording⁶ of her playing the harp⁷ in her appeal for help.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CAROLYN DEAL: Hi. This is a tune⁸ I wrote called "Water Fairies."

(SOUNDBITE OF CAROLYN DEAL'S "WATER FAIRIES")

ZDECHLIK: Deal lost almost all of her hearing following a traumatic brain injury. She's close to reaching her goal of raising $25,000 to pay for medical procedures her insurance won't cover. There are several online crowdsourced fundraising platforms GoFundMe is the largest by far and boasts 50 million donations that have raised more than $5 billion since it began eight years ago.

ROB SOLOMON: We help people tell their story, and that's probably one of the most significant things.

ZDECHLIK: That GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon, who says a third of the money has gone to help people battling health problems. There's nothing new about people coming together to help each other in times of need, but Solomon says technology has exploded fundraising potential and that people need help.

SOLOMON: In the old paradigm⁹, you would give $20 to somebody who needed help. In the new paradigm, you will give $20 dollars. You'll share that, and that could turn into 10, 20, 50, or a hundred people doing that. So the $20 could turn into hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

ZDECHLIK: And it's not just people without health insurance who are turning to crowdsourced fundraisers to help cover medical bills because ever-increasing cost sharing, including copayments and deductibles, with many of today's health plans have left many with health insurance they cannot afford to use. Again, Rob Solomon.

SOLOMON: In the U.S., we obviously have some challenges with our health care system and with how insurance works and how people are covered. There's just a lot of costs associated with the medical space, and it has become a very important category on GoFundMe.

ZDECHLIK: Tammy Fox lives in suburban¹⁰ Minneapolis. She's fine, but her friend Donna is sick with a rare and difficult-to-diagnose autoimmune disorder¹¹. Her friend has had to make many trips to the Mayo Clinic.

TAMMY FOX: You've got meals. You've got hotel stay and, like I said, gas. So that all needed to be covered.

ZDECHLIK: There will also be medical bills Donna's insurance won't cover, so Fox started a GoFundMe campaign, and Donna's getting some contributions from people she doesn't even know.

FOX: It's crazy cool how awesome¹² people are and what they're willing to give. People, when they come together, can just move mountains, and I think that's awesome to see.

ZDECHLIK: The Commonwealth Fund recently surveyed working-age Americans, asking whether they could pay an unexpected medical bill of a thousand dollars in 30 days. Nearly half said no. GoFundMe says it expects continued growth in what it calls social fundraising, including campaigns to help people who are ill. For NPR News, I'm Mark Zdechlik in St. Paul.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

KELLY: And that story is part of a reporting partnership¹³ with NPR, Minnesota Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

8 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

9 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

10 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

11 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

12 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

13 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。