I'm a Watsi team member, and while this post is already off the front page, I still wanted to discuss a few of the points raised in the article and address some inaccuracies:

> "Silicon Valley needs to stop pimping out patients to alleviate white guilt."

Watsi donors come from around the world, and we have more donors from China than any other country. I don't think "white guilt" is something that applies to most of our donors.

> "She is informed by the doctor that this is a “Watsi facility” and is asked if she would like to “share her story with the world.” Faith, who is economically vulnerable and facing a non-choice between externally-funded treatment and continued disease, agrees. Her photo is then taken and uploaded, along with her sob story, to the Watsi site."

This is misleading. As we state on our website, "If a Watsi Crowdfunding patient doesn’t wish to be featured on the website, we give them the option to have their healthcare funded via our General Fund without ever appearing on the website." It's important to us that patients don't have to decide between sharing their story publicly and receiving healthcare.

> "...to design the system and adhere to all local laws in such a way that no matter what, patients will benefit."

I wrote this response to a support email and I'm embarrassed rereading it. It would have been more accurate to say that we make every effort to identify and reduce the risks involved with any new project. It's part of my job to represent Watsi's work accurately and I let us down here.

> "It does not incentivize poor communities to demand their governments fulfill their commitment to the World Health Organization..."

I don't believe people in poor communities need to needlessly suffer due to a lack of healthcare in order for them to be incentivized to advocate for their basic human rights. This statement is demeaning to people around the world.

> "If the goal really were to increase patient access to life-changing care, there would be a commitment to supporting patients and to working with governments over the long term to remove those structural barriers to care"

This raises a point that I've struggled with in the past: is it better to help one person today or try to create a system that helps more people in the future? I've come to believe it's a false premise. You'd never tell your mom that she should die of diabetes because you're working to strengthen Medicaid.

Every patient deserves healthcare today, and in the future, and the world has the resources to provide both. And it's often by starting small and serving individuals that organizations can learn how to effectively work with governments to help people over the long term.

> "If YC and Watsi are truly committed to ensuring their model really does leave patients better off, allow me to offer a few suggestions...stop pimping out patients."

Millions of people in wealthy countries like the US use websites like GoFundMe in order to post their stories online and crowdfund their medical expenses. Of course, I wish everyone had access to healthcare and this wasn't necessary. But it seems crazy to argue that poor people shouldn't have access to the same fundraising tools that rich people do.

I'd be happy to speak with anyone (including the author) about our work. I'm at chase at watsi dot org. We're open to any feedback or ideas that can help us better serve patients.