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. 2022 Apr 15;7(2):e33205.
doi: 10.2196/33205.

GoFundMe as a Medical Plan: Ecological Study of Crowdfunding Insulin Success

Julia E Blanchette  1 , M J Tran  1 , Ernest G Grigorian  1 , Eli Iacob  1 , Linda S Edelman  1 , Tamara K Oser  2 , Michelle L Litchman  1
Affiliations

GoFundMe as a Medical Plan: Ecological Study of Crowdfunding Insulin Success

Julia E Blanchette et al. JMIR Diabetes. .

Abstract

Background: Individuals in need of medical care turn to crowdfunding websites to engage a "crowd" or group for financial support. In the last decade, access to insulin has decreased considerably for several reasons, including the rising cost of insulin, increasing popularity of high-deductible insurance plans, and increasing insurance premiums. Many people with diabetes are forced to ration or go without insulin, and they turn to crowdfunding websites to seek financial donations to purchase insulin needed to reduce health risks and mortality, and sustain quality of life.

Objective: This study aimed to explore crowdfunding campaign requests to purchase insulin in the United States.

Methods: In this retrospective, quantitative, and qualitative study, we coded the text of GoFundMe online crowdfunding campaigns and viral measures (shares, hearts, and comments) from February 25 to April 15, 2019. We described campaigns (N=205) and explored the factors associated with campaign success using correlations and qualitative thematic analysis.

Results: The majority of campaigns were initiated by middle-aged adults (age 26-64 years; 77/205, 37.6%), those with type 1 diabetes (94/205, 45.9%), and those needing funds owing to insurance coverage issues (125/205, 61.0%). The factors associated with campaign success included requests for ≤US $500 (P=.007) and higher viral measures (shares, P=.007; hearts, P<.001; comments, P=.002). The following 4 themes emerged from the campaign text: (1) desire for self-management and survival, (2) diabetes management untenable given insulin access, (3) aftermath of insulin unaffordability, and (4) privacy issues with crowdfunding. Campaign comments were both supportive (tangible, informational, and emotional) and unsupportive (questioned the need for the campaign and deemed crowdfunding inappropriate).

Conclusions: Despite crowdfunding websites being used to support the purchase of insulin, campaigns raised only a fraction of the money requested. Therefore, GoFundMe campaigns are not a reliable solution to obtain funds for insulin in the United States. Applying quantitative and qualitative methods is adequate to analyze online crowdfunding for costs of medications such as insulin. However, it is critical for people with diabetes to use resources other than online crowdfunding to access and obtain insulin owing to low success rates. Clinicians should routinely assess difficulty accessing or affording insulin, and federal health care policies should support lowering the cost of insulin.

Keywords: crowdfunding; diabetes; financial stress; health care cost; insulin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: JEB is an independent contractor for Tandem Diabetes and Insulet Corporation, a speaker for Insulet Corporation, a consultant for WellDoc, Inc, and an advisory board member for Provention Bio and Cardinal Health (unrelated to this study). MLL was the principal investigator of an investigator-initiated study and on the Diabetes Wise Professional Advisory Committee (unrelated to this study). TKO has served on a Physician Advisory Panel for Dexcom, and serves as a consultant to Cecilia Health, Diabetes and as a member of the DiabetesWise Professional Advisory Committee (unrelated to this study).

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Geographic heat map of GoFundMe campaigns.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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