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I just donated some euro's, and I truely believe those euro's will be well spend. But it feels wierd (and somehow wrong) to crowdfund someone's health. I'm not

by st0p 14y ago

I just donated some euro's, and I truely believe those euro's will be well spend. But it feels wierd (and somehow wrong) to crowdfund someone's health. I'm not questioning watsi, they are in it for the right reasons. But is crowdfunding something important as health for poor people the solution? I think everyone is trying to do good here, but nobody is solving the real problems.

chaseadam17 14y ago
Thanks for the donation, the patient (and we) really appreciate it. You bring up a really interesting point. Is crowdfunding a sustainable solution for healthcare? It's something we think about a lot as a team. Right now, there are people dying for lack of available and relatively cheap medical treatments, simply because they can't afford them. We think the only moral thing to do is fund their treatments. However, is this sustainable? I'd argue that it is for two reasons. First, the organizations we partner with are all working towards fairly obvious sustainable solutions. Some establish public-private partnerships, others cross-subsidize, and others have a very strong focus on training local doctors (some do all three - we require at least one). Second, and without getting into a really deep discussion here, only about 40 out of 200 countries in the world have a formal healthcare system. And those systems that work best are, for the most part, universal healthcare systems financed by the government (i.e. the costs are crowdfunded via taxes). However, with the world becoming smaller by the second, is it too crazy to think that Watsi might one day be the first truly universal healthcare system? What if instead of a mandatory tax, of which a % is allocated to national healthcare, human compassion was enough to fuel a global healthcare system? For the first time in history, the internet is making this feasible. The only question that remains is whether human compassion is enough to solve one of the world's greatest challenges.

by st0p 14y ago

chaseadam17 14y ago

Thanks for the donation, the patient (and we) really appreciate it. You bring up a really interesting point. Is crowdfunding a sustainable solution for healthcare? It's something we think about a lot as a team. Right now, there are people dying for lack of available and relatively cheap medical treatments, simply because they can't afford them. We think the only moral thing to do is fund their treatments. However, is this sustainable? I'd argue that it is for two reasons. First, the organizations we partner with are all working towards fairly obvious sustainable solutions. Some establish public-private partnerships, others cross-subsidize, and others have a very strong focus on training local doctors (some do all three - we require at least one). Second, and without getting into a really deep discussion here, only about 40 out of 200 countries in the world have a formal healthcare system. And those systems that work best are, for the most part, universal healthcare systems financed by the government (i.e. the costs are crowdfunded via taxes). However, with the world becoming smaller by the second, is it too crazy to think that Watsi might one day be the first truly universal healthcare system? What if instead of a mandatory tax, of which a % is allocated to national healthcare, human compassion was enough to fuel a global healthcare system? For the first time in history, the internet is making this feasible. The only question that remains is whether human compassion is enough to solve one of the world's greatest challenges.