Medical Crowdfunding alongside Public Health Insurance: Organising Access to Care in Serbia

In Serbia, compulsory health insurance covers almost the entire population, yet appeals for donations to fund individual treatment circulate daily through media, social media and personal networks. This article examines how foundation-mediated medical crowdfunding, known locally as humanitarne akcije (humanitarian actions), organises access to care alongside public provision. Drawing on historical and health-policy scholarship, Serbian regulations and foundation rules, and international research on medical crowdfunding, we trace the relationship between entitlement and access from socialist Yugoslavia to contemporary Serbia. We argue that foundations exercise practical authority by regulating admission, eligible costs and payments, while financing individual appeals also depends on voluntary donor support. We use social citizenship to examine the institutional grounding of claims and affective belonging to consider how felt connections may generate support without establishing an entitlement to assistance. Descriptive findings from a companion study document recurring care needs and variation in funding progress among Serbian campaigns, while international research identifies possible inequalities associated with networks, resources and the presentation of need. We distinguish these findings from explanations of donor behaviour that remain to be tested in Serbia.