Crowdfunding for medical bills, kept private

Fundraising for medical expenses usually starts with one piece of paper. A bill for care that already happened, an estimate for care that has not, or a prescription that refills every month. Three different costs, and the people who will help with any of them are the ones who already know what you are going through.

Mary needs to raise money for her sister's medical bills

Mary's sister went into the hospital in June. The chemotherapy is covered. The ER visit that started it and the two follow-ups are not, and the hospital statement for those is $840, due before it goes to collections on the 30th.

There are about forty people in Mary's phone who have already asked how her sister is doing. Those forty are the reason to look at crowdfunding for medical expenses at all — not strangers who will never meet her. What Mary will not do is put her sister's diagnosis on a public page, under her sister's name, where it stays searchable long after the bill is paid.

So she asks the forty, for the one bill that has a date on it.

Ask for the bill with the date on it

Medical costs rarely arrive as one number. They arrive as a stack: the surgery, the ER, the follow-ups, the prescription, each on its own statement and its own schedule.

You do not have to raise the stack. Ask for the one that is due. "The $840 ER bill, before it goes to collections on the 30th" is a far easier thing to answer than "medical expenses", because the person reading it knows exactly what their hundred dollars stops.

What you keepThe full amount. What you ask for is what reaches you.
When it arrivesEach contribution reaches your bank 2-3 business days after it's made, once your bank is connected. There's no goal to reach and no end date to wait for.
How you send itBy text or email, to the people you choose, with photos and a video if you want them to see the situation rather than just read about it. You decide who to send it to. It's never listed on A Better Gift, and it stays out of search results unless you choose to share it publicly.

Why private matters more for a medical cost

A car repair is a car repair. A diagnosis is different. A public fundraising page puts a name next to a condition and leaves it there — searchable, screenshotted, still findable long after the bill is paid, by an employer, an insurer, a landlord, or anyone who types the name out of curiosity.

And a public page is public from the minute it goes up, not from the minute the money arrives. The diagnosis is out in front of everyone first and the help comes afterward, if it comes. A private request runs the other way: Mary sends it to the forty, and nothing about her sister is published, listed, or indexed anywhere.

A private request asks the same people for the same money and publishes none of it. The people who will help with a hospital bill are the ones who already know why there is one.

What a fundraiser for medical bills looks like here

Nine contributions of $100 cover the $840.

Nine. Her parents, two aunts, three people from work, the couple next door, her sister's oldest friend. Everyone who has already asked how she is doing. Mary receives the entire $840.

How it works

  1. Name the bill. "The $840 ER bill, due before the 30th." Attach the statement.
  2. Send it to the people you choose. Email or text. Your list, nobody else's.
  3. The money goes to your bank account — 2-3 business days after each contribution, once your bank is connected.

What it costs

Nothing to create a request. Nothing to send it. The amount you ask for is the amount that reaches you.

What people raise for

Medical bill fundraising comes in three shapes — after the care, before it, or every month — and each one is a different ask.

Medical bills. The most common one: care that already happened, and a statement for the part insurance did not cover. The amount is fixed and the date is on the statement. Attach it, and the explanation of benefits if you have one, so the person reading it can see exactly what was covered and what was not.

Treatments. A different shape, because the money comes before the care. A scheduled surgery, dental work, a course of physical therapy, new glasses. There is an estimate rather than a bill, and often a deposit due before the date. Ask for your share of the estimate, name the date of the procedure, and attach the quote.

Medications. The cost that repeats. A prescription that insurance covers only in part, every month, for as long as it is needed. There is no single bill, so name a period instead: three months of a prescription, with the monthly cost. Three months is a thing a person can say yes to. "However long this goes on" is not.

Next to GoFundMe

GoFundMe is the best known way of crowdfunding medical bills, and like most of them it is public by default and built to reach strangers. A diagnosis usually is not that, and a public page naming a person and their condition stays findable long after the bill is paid, by employers, by insurers, by anyone who types their name.

Here the person contributing covers the fee, so $840 asked is $840 received.

Questions

Is GoFundMe good for medical bills?▼
It can work, and plenty of people use it. The trade-offs are that a campaign is public and searchable by default, it is built to reach strangers rather than the people who already know you, and the money is paid to you, so benefit rules apply just as they would here. If the people most likely to help already know you, a private request reaches them without the public page.
Can I raise money for medical bills without everyone knowing?▼
Yes. A request is private by default. It's never listed anywhere, and it stays out of search engines unless you choose to share it publicly. It goes where you send it.
Will raising money affect my Medicaid or SSI?▼
It can. The money reaches your bank account, so the usual rules apply exactly as they would anywhere else. Check with your caseworker before you raise anything.
The hospital is sending the bill to collections. Is it too late to ask for help?▼
No. Name the amount and the date it goes to collections, attach the statement, and send the request to the people who know you. Each contribution reaches your bank 2-3 business days after it is made, once your bank is connected, so start as early as you can before that date.
What does A Better Gift charge?▼
Creating a request is free, sending it is free, and you receive the entire amount of every contribution.
Can I raise money for someone else's medical bills?▼
Yes. The person who creates the request receives the money, so it should be whoever will actually pay the bill.

Related resources

How to Raise Money for Medical Bills

Put a number and a date on a medical bill, and ask the people who already know what you are going through.

How to Ask Family for Money

Be honest about why you need it, be specific about the amount, and make it easy and private for them to help.

Start a private request

Start a private request