Crowdfunding sites gear up for heightened use under possible ACA repeal

Expensive medical bills combined with congressional Republicans' efforts to tear down the ACA have steered many Americans who are vulnerable to losing coverage toward crowdfunding platforms, such as GoFundMe and YouCaring, Bloomberg reports.

Business is already erupting for crowdfunding sites, and their operators expect the rapid growth to continue irrespective of the future of U.S. healthcare reform.

"Whether it's Obamacare or Trumpcare, the weight of healthcare costs on consumers will only increase," Dan Saper, CEO of YouCaring, a fundraising and crowdfunding website, told Bloomberg. "It will drive more people to try and figure out how to pay healthcare needs, and crowdfunding is in its early days as a way to help those people."

Medical care is one of the biggest fundraising categories at GoFundMe, an industry leader among crowdfunding platforms. CEO Rob Solomon said medical crowdfunding is what helped "define and put GoFundMe on the map," calling it a "digital safety net," according to the report.

The business of providing a fundraising platform for individuals is profitable. GoFundMe takes 5 percent of each donation, with 2.9 percent going to payment processing and a 30 cent transaction fee. Other websites charge similar fees.

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