Seems sus. I don't think donations from the street will pay for bills as efficiently as getting a job-- not that finding a job is an easy feat.

Additionally, many hospitals have financial assistance programs (for example) : https://www.texaschildrens.org/patients-and-visitors/insuran...

The Ronald McDonald house also helps families with a lot of other expenses: https://rmhc.org/

As a habit I don't trust anyone asking me for money, but they looked reasonably legit. I wonder how long it would take to save up enough money to pay for pediatric brain surgery on $15/hour - I would imagine longer than the presumed prognosis of the infant. I also thought that if we had universal care within the United States, I would not have to guess whether it was a scam or not - I would just know that the child would receive some hopefully reasonable amount of medical care.

It's not for the per-hour, it's for the group-based health insurance, even for part-time employees. If that's what a parent needs to do, then that's the most efficient path.

Even a sliver of insurance allows delays in payments while allowing the hospital to perform service up front. It's lousy to claim bankruptcy over medical bills, but if it gets your child the help they need, this is IMO a viable path.

Yes, I have some inkling, though it's interesting that the goal of this seems to have nothing to do with actually paying the medical providers who would presumably be helping the child. I will say that I have friends in all walks of life who do all kinds of jobs, and many of them can't even get coverage for themselves, let alone for families, so it might be more challenging than you think. That said, this is one reason among dozens why I will never have children.

Family living in Texas also had child with cancer, Cooks Children Hospital covered whatever they couldn't pay. I'm sorry to be cynical but I suspect a scam.

Not to mention Medicaid which covers children and pregnant women even in the States that didn’t expand coverage.

I would assume that was a scam. It is common for people to use children to garner more donations.

Refer them to St Jude’s Childrens hospital. Childhood cancer is their thing

And they don’t charge a penny. Even the cafeteria is free for patients.