• PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Blood transfusions cost a patient $1k-$4k and none of that money is given back to a donor. If they want people to donate, they need to either make transfusions cheap, or pay the donors.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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      8 months ago

      Do you think it is Red Cross that is charging for transfusions?

      There’s plenty of reasons to dislike the ARC, but this isn’t one of them.

      Hell, if you’d stopped to think for half a second you’d realize all that will do is increase patient costs and endanger the blood supply.

        • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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          8 months ago

          No. I think you’d rapidly find yourself in a situation like in West Africa, where the blood sellers typically have 3x the rate of having a blood born illness than the general population.

          There is one thing countries that refuse paid transfusables have in common, and that is a near-zero infection risk from blood transfusion. Something that is not true for countries that accept paid “donors.”

          And the dumbest thing of it all is it still wouldn’t reduce costs. It would increase them for patients, so why the hell do it at all?

          The problem is not that “donors” aren’t getting a cut. The problem is the boomers are the last generation that got massive public awareness campaigns about the importance of donating blood, and they’re aging out of the health requirements or just, you know, dying.

    • Drusas@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      I recently needed a blood transfusion. The bill was $7,300. I paid $650 after insurance covered/negotiated the rest.

      Just sharing a data point.

      • PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        I am a blood donor and a future organ donor. More than anything I am frustrated that someone should have to even be billed for $7,300 for something I gave to them for free. Our health system is rigged against the people it claims to benefit.

        • Drusas@kbin.social
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          8 months ago

          It is frustrating and needs to be better regulated, but thank you for being a donor.

          As someone with chronic anemia, it’s very disheartening to see all of these people say that they will not donate because their donation gets sold. They would rather people like me just die than have capitalism get involved with their donation?

          I’d rather pay than not get the blood, thank you very much. The solution is legislation, not to simply stop donating.