If you are on social media, watch a lot of news, or don’t live under a rock, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered a “GoFundMe” campaign. Basically, GoFundMe is this cool site where you can campaign to have anything from medical expenses to a Disneyland vacation crowdfunded.

I’ve never created my own campaign, but it seems like it’s a very simple process which involves telling your story, maybe adding a few pictures, and then sharing it on social media platforms. From there, friends, family, or even strangers can donate. Some donors leave messages of love and support or they can choose to remain anonymous.

Personally, I have seen campaigns that range from heartbreaking and tragic to pointless and trivial. I love that there is an option for people to help other people without having to go person-to-person, begging for a little generosity. I know a lot of people would have a far more difficult time asking friends and family personally.

A little over seven years ago, my firstborn had an unexpected stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after his birth. My husband and I both had insurance; neither of us had very large salaries. At the end of five days, we walked out with our healthy baby boy, and an $11,000 hospital bill. And for a NICU stay, we got off cheap!

The point of my story: we didn’t have $11,000 lying in wait to be sent in when the hospital called demanding the bill be paid in full after maybe 30 days. (Side note: this was all pre-ObamaCare). So, like so many other medical bills, ours was sold promptly to a collection agency.

GoFundMe would have been helpful. Because, I don’t know, call me crazy, but it seems kind of, um, what’s the word—unethical—to bankrupt people because their baby needed antibiotics to stay alive. Or a mom needs cancer treatment. Or a little boy needs dialysis. Or…you fill in the blank.

I know what many Republicans would say (and I say this as a FORMER Republican); I should have planned more, saved more, made more. But I didn’t. I was twenty-four when my first child was born. I had college debt, no degree, and collectively my husband (who has a college degree) and I made well under $70,000 per year.

We weren’t economically impoverished enough to have our medical totally covered, nor were we wealthy enough to afford apparently any sort of medical emergency. Yes, GoFundMe would have been helpful seven years ago.

But now we have the Affordable Care Act, for I don’t know how much longer, which allows for all people to have affordable coverage. Obviously, if that gets taken away, we also have methods of crowdfunding, like GoFundMe, which by the way, is not a non-profit organization like say, the government.

Crowdfunding—that’s a funny and self-explanatory word; instead of one person being buried by an overwhelming cost (let’s focus more on the medical needs than the spring break campaigns), many people contribute in a way that’s appropriate to their situation. If I have $20 extra in my budget, I’ll throw that in, and if I have $200 extra that could help a person going through something as devastating as chemo and radiation treatment, you better believe I’d give them every extra penny I had.

My question is this: why can’t we think of a medical system in our country (I won’t dare to call it socialized medicine) as a method of crowdfunding? If you are uncomfortable with the thought of a few of your hard-earned dollars going to help make sure that every person in need of medical care gets it, then maybe try imagining that those few dollars were sent via GoFundMe.

Or are you only comfortable helping people you know? Because you may not know anyone with cancer, or a sick baby, or a dying parent, but I guarantee that if you did and you personally saw their story of need, you would probably want to help, right?

Doesn’t every person deserve that, whether you are friends on Facebook or not? See, crowdfunding isn't exactly a new idea. It's kind of what taxes are, except when crowdfunding is privatized, you're charged an additional fee for giving your money to help someone. Companies are established to make a profit, governments are not.