Crowdfunding Now the Default for Medical Procedures Insurance Won't Pay For

A South Carolina man's GoFundMe campaign for penile enlargement surgery raised nearly $13,000 in ten days. The speed reflects a widening pattern: patients increasingly crowdfund elective procedures—cosmetic surgery, fertility treatments, experimental therapies—that insurers exclude from coverage. For many, public fundraising has replaced either paying entirely out-of-pocket or abandoning care altogether.