[tyingq]

"His start-up, Ambrosia, is charging about $8,000 a pop for blood transfusions"

And a quick google search says that people donating to a blood bank get $20 to $60 a pint, and the blood banks sell for $200-$600 a pint.

I wonder if blood banks will figure out the model here and sell direct.

[maxerickson]

Blood banks in the US tend not to pay for whole blood.

Plasma donations are often paid though.

[tyingq]

Hmm. Apparently to discourage people with diseases from selling their blood. The plasma doesn't have the issue due to how it is processed, broken down, and used.

As mentioned, though, this creates an odd situation. The donor is sort of misled that they are doing something charitable, which is clearly not the case here.

[maxerickson]

Blood banks do have plenty of real costs and a payment to the donator would just get passed through to the patients receiving the blood.

It looks like I donate to a for profit organization, but for instance, the Red Cross isn't paying shareholders profits from the blood they sell.

[Overtonwindow]

Paying for blood, and the ethical issues around that, reminds me of pharmacies giving out gift cards and other discounts for flu shots. I recall CVS was giving out a $25 gift card to anyone who got a flu shot, and I imagined a lot of low income and poor people lining up for a shot they may not need, and in fact may be harmful, just to get money to buy food, etc.

[jack9]

> I imagined a lot of low income and poor people lining up for a shot they may not need, and in fact may be harmful

That's an interesting spin, which may be true of other types of injection. However for flu shots, it can save lives (the poor are particularly susceptible and potentially focal for infection clusters). In that way the financial incentive is progressive.

[Overtonwindow]

Does the flu shot save lives? Various outlets report the vaccine may only be roughly 50% effective [0] which seems little more than a coin toss. They're pushed very hard in these drug stores, every time you check out, signs everywhere, plus the financial incentives. I wonder what the danger would be to a poor person to getting a flu shot multiple times?

[0] http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/health/flu-shot-effective-cdc-...

[Overtonwindow]

Blood banks don't usually pay for blood. That's why it's called donating... If someone is paying for blood where do I sign up because I could use the money.. :-/

[tyingq]

Elsewhere in the thread, but the nuance is what it is used for. You can get paid if it ends up as plasma.

[crowbahr]

I had friends who sold plasma to get through college. Like 50-100 each time they went.