Crowdfunding in healthcare

Medical crowdfunding is the practice of using websites to raise money from donors to pay for medical care or related expenses. While in terms of overall funding volume, medical crowdfunding should still be considered as a niche phenomenon, it is rapidly growing in many countries and is seen by many people as a way to cope with government cuts on public health financing. Examining the worldwide population of healthcare crowdfunding platforms, this study is the first to offer global and cross-platform evidence on healthcare crowdfunding by providing an assessment of how and where healthcare crowdfunding platforms emerge. We explore the relationship between healthcare crowdfunding and national health systems, finding evidence of a substitution effect when public health coverage is low. Moreover, our findings support the evidence that the number of successfully funded health projects is higher when the platform is not investment-based or dedicated only to healthcare projects.