<p>A dear friend’s sibling and spouse were involved in a terrible car crash. The other driver was clearly at fault and was also intoxicated. The state it happened in is California. The injured couple are facing weeks or even months in the hospital, months out of work, long term rehab, etc. One of them is not “out of the woods” yet.</p>
<p>A friend has started a crowd funding site, to help with their medical bills. My question is about that, and for purely practical reasons. I would like to donate to the couple but I’m worried somehow it might work against them. Won’t the other driver’s insurance be liable for the injured couple’s medical costs? Is it possible to go over some limit where the injured couple is liable? Wouldn’t the hospital then start billing the driver at fault? Is it possible the hospital or some insurance agency will use the crowd funding money in a way that is not intended?</p>
<p>If anyone has experience with this in California, please let me know. I don’t know much about the driver at fault except that it was not reported that she was uninsured. </p>
<p>I don’t know the specifics of how it would work in California, but I wouldn’t be donating to something like this without knowing what their own auto policy and that of the person who is liable for the injuries is going to cover. They have likely retained a lawyer to handle the claim, so while this friend may be starting this site with good intentions, it seems premature to me, and I’m not confident in these crowd-funding sites anyway.</p>
<p>I recently made a donation through a crowd funding site to a dear friend’s son who became a quadriplegic due to a diving accident. I think his health insurance will cover most of his hospital expenses but his family will also suffer a huge financial setback due to potential loss of income. I trust him and his family using the donation to cover other expenses.</p>
<p>If I wanted to donate, I’d prefer to donate directly to the injured party and not let the crowdfunding site take their poriton of the proceeds. I see no reason to enrich the crowdfunding site.</p>
<p>The crowd funding site, youcaring.com takes nothing. If you pay through paypal or wepay then they get the full amount. If you use a credit card, then the cc company deducts it’s percentage from whatever you donate. </p>
<p>I just wish it wasn’t specified as a medical fundraising site since they really shouldn’t have to pay a penny out of pocket for this even though I’m sure they will. </p>
<p>One of our employees had a no-fault-of-anyone’s accident in which he ended up a paraplegic. Among non-medical expenses was the cost of selling his house–which could not be made suitable for wheelchair living–and buying a condo that enabled him to live independently. He also needed to have his car adapted for wheelchair use. Finally, he bought himself a handcycle so he could continue to compete as a cyclist. All of those expenses were covered through a city-wide fundraising campaign. (He had excellent insurance, both health insurance and AFLAC accident insurance.)</p>
<p>Edited to add: also, many time, medical expenses simply don’t pay enough for ongoing physical therapy.</p>
<p>There are so many expenses that aren’t covered in a bad accident, no matter how good your insurance coverage is. The post above illustrates just a few of those expenses. There are also many ways to give–directly to the person in need or via some other means.</p>