ImpactAlpha, May 23 – With more than 70% of Indians lacking health insurance, most patients pay out of pocket for healthcare costs. The government is pushing a public health insurance plan.
One specialty private hospital chain is taking a different approach: encouraging its patients to tap their social networks to raise money for care. Apollo Hospitals, along with Venture Catalysts, led a $2 million financing for the crowdfunding startup ImpactGuru.
Apollo will direct patients in its network to ImpactGuru to “increase the level of awareness of crowdfunding as a solution to make healthcare affordable for all,” Inc42 reports.
ImpactGuru helps organizations and individuals launch funding campaigns for health, education, women’s empowerment and other causes. Campaigns on the site have raised $15.8 million since 2014.
ImpactGuru’s medical crowdfunding site claims to be among the “top 10 crowdfunding platforms in India for medical causes,” suggesting many more un- and underinsured Indian’s are using crowdfunding to cover treatment costs. The trend isn’t unique to India: nearly half of the billions raised on U.S. platforms like GoFundMe and YouCaring went towards medical campaigns.
