Facing Medical Bankruptcy, Some People Turn to Crowd Funding

Medical costs in the U.S. are skyrocketing and there is no relief in sight. Though President Obama’s signature policy, the Affordable Care Act was meant to address the exorbitant costs of medical care it may be years before it makes a dent in these costs, if ever. For many people, who are facing bankruptcy because of medical bills, crowd funding is shaping up to be an alternative.

Crowd funding is typically seen as way to get money for business start-ups. Most of crowd funding sources can be found on the internet on sites like Kickstarter. While most of the people looking for financing are artists, entrepreneurs and writers, people facing a personal or family emergency are also utilizing crowd funding sources.

Medical bills are one of the leading reasons individuals or couples file for Chapter 13 or chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to the American Journal of Medicine, 62 percent of all personal bankruptcy filings are the cause of medical debt, and many of the filers actually have medical insurance. A serious illness such as cancer or heart disease can leave person in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in debt.

Some of the individuals saddled with medical debt don’t wish to declare bankruptcy there are a number of crowd funding sites they can turn to such as GiveForward.com, Indiegogo.com and YouCaring.com. GoForward is exclusively dedicated to helping people with their medical bills.

Even with help from these crowd funding sites, people may have more medical costs than they can ever pay for.  These deeply indebted individuals can look to a bankruptcy attorney to help them decide if a debt-relief plan is the right option for them.