Compensate for Your Medical Loans With Crowdfunding

How expensive can medical treatment get?

In India, over 80% of people do not have health insurance. This is because there is a lack of awareness and a lack of financial capability to afford such insurance, among other reasons. 

Even the 20% of Indians who have health insurance are often unable to pay their medical expenses because even the most comprehensive health insurance plan does not cover all costs associated with medical treatments. Medical treatments can prove to be extremely expensive due to the various stages involved, such as consultancy, admission, medicinal costs, surgery costs, therapy, and scans. 

The expenses associated with medical treatment also depend on certain other factors, such as the city in which a person seeks treatment. For instance, medical treatment in Mumbai is likely to be more expensive than medical treatment in Raipur. This is because the cost of living in Mumbai is higher than that of Raipur. Similarly, the type of hospital chosen for the medical treatment is also a consideration that determines the total medical expenses that one might incur. For example, getting medical treatment at an expensive private hospital would cost higher than getting the same treatment at a government hospital that offers subsidised rates. Other factors that affect medical expenses include the type of disease being treated and the extent of treatment required. 

COVID-19, for instance, has taught us that medical costs simply cannot be predicted. During the second wave of the pandemic in 2021, the costs of various medical facilities shot up exponentially. Oxygen cylinders were being sold for lakhs of rupees, and many people had to pay lakhs even to use an ambulance. These are astronomical costs that no health insurance plan would cover. Thousands of people have lost their lives over the high costs of medical treatment, especially in the second wave. In such situations, online crowdfunding and fundraising can assist a family in its time of need. 

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What is crowdfunding?

With the expansion of digitisation and growing reliance on the digital economy, online crowdfunding has emerged as a prevalent method of funding expensive medical treatment. The term ‘crowdfunding’ explains the essence of its function, i.e., to attain funds from large groups of people. Therefore, crowdfunding primarily refers to raising funds by inviting donors from all over the country and sometimes from around the world. It is an alternative method that allows individuals who need money to complete a certain objective. The fundraisers often set end goals or targets. People can choose to donate any amount (usually, there is no minimum amount, or there is just a token minimum amount) to help achieve the target.

Various websites on the internet now actively enable crowdfunding due to its growing acceptance and popularity as a way to raise funds. Social media influencers and celebrities now find it easier to pick a cause they relate to or support and often post links to the fundraisers on their social media platforms, such as Instagram stories, to invite donors. All anyone has to do is click on the link, read and understand the cause for which donations are needed. Donors can then choose the amount they wish to donate and process the payment. Digital payments have made it even easier to enable crowdfunding in the digital space that India is entering. 

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How can medical crowdfunding help you? 

Medical crowdfunding is a popular, accepted, well-known, reliable alternate method to raise funds for expensive medical treatments such as open-heart surgery, cancer treatments, bone marrow transplants, etc. People from lower socioeconomic classes, who typically don’t have savings for such unforeseen expenses, find it difficult to pay for these treatments on their minimal annual incomes. This is where medical crowdfunding comes to the rescue. Ketto’s medical crowdfunding programme is rated the best in Asia—one of the world’s largest continents. 

An online medical crowdfunding campaign can be started by anybody—a relative, an interested party, a well-wisher, a family member, or even the patient in need. There is plenty of flexibility that online medical crowdfunding offers. Online crowdfunding on well-known and reliable platforms such as Ketto can also increase the visibility that your cause has, as the platform is widely used by people all around the country. This, in turn, can exponentially increase the likelihood of receiving the urgent funds that the campaign requires. 

Keeping in mind the lack of funds that may motivate you to consider crowdfunding via Ketto, starting a crowdfunding campaign on the platform is free—there are no additional costs. The process of initiating an online medical crowdfunding campaign on Ketto is quick and efficient. With zero costs and the least amount of time invested, you can raise the amount you need for your loved one’s medical treatment in a timely manner.

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The various advantages of online medical crowdfunding

Easier access

Quite often, in matters of money, people tend to make it a matter of their pride, and this makes it difficult or awkward for them to ask for help with money from their own family or close friends. For many people, it takes an immense amount of trust, closeness, and reliability to approach someone for money directly. Online medical crowdfunding campaigns can make this process much easier because a campaigner can approach a large number of people without having their pride come in the way. Crowdfunding makes spreading awareness easy, and donors are not limited to the beneficiary’s personal circles. 

Urgent needs met

Medical expenses often come without any warning. The unprecedented nature of medical expenses can be a financial shock because savings or health insurance plans are often not enough to cover the entire cost of medical treatment. This is where online medical crowdfunding campaigns help by raising the required funds from a large number of people in a short amount of time, which can be of immense help to critical patients that require urgent medical care. 

A viable alternative to personal loans

Someone who is unaware of online medical crowdfunding might turn to personal loans as an immediate solution in such a situation. However, personal loans are not the wisest financial solution. Medical loans, on the other hand, would have expensive interest repayments that might take months or even years to recover from. Online medical crowdfunding is a viable debt-free alternative. Ketto allows you to start an international online medical crowdfunding campaign for free and accepts currencies from all over the world. This increases the flexibility of your campaign, its visibility, and the likelihood of meeting your target goal. 

Easy withdrawal

Ketto also allows you to withdraw the funds raised at any point, and it does not restrict such withdrawal only to meeting the target goal. This allows the family members or close friends to withdraw funds in accordance with their needs. Medical treatments and their progression are very unpredictable, and this means that the costs associated with the same are also unprecedented. Having the ability to withdraw money as and when needed will ease your mental, financial and emotional burden. 

Reliability

Ketto has a feature that allows its users to upload hospital bills. This ensures transparency in the process by allowing the donors to know the validity of their donations. Legitimacy in financial transactions is a growing concern today, so having proof of the cause that the money is supporting is always helpful. 

The procedure for starting an online medical crowdfunding campaign on Ketto takes only three minutes. With a community of over 1.5 million enthusiastic donors, this remains the most reliable online platform to start an online medical crowdfunding campaign.