• psvrh@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I was going to say.

      I mean, there’s a good chance they might wait a while in triage and parking can be expensive, but that’s really about it.

  • Vej@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Where I live they ask for donations then charge for the blood to the patient. This is why I don’t donate blood.

    • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      That’s a terrible reason. You would rather a patient in need not have blood available than be charged for it?

      There is definitely price gouging in blood. But it also requires testing, transportation, and storage before it can be used. The money for all that has to come from somewhere (unfortunately in the US it’s usually the patient).

      • Vej@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        I’m aware. But making the blood also costs calories food, time of donation exct. I get it’s not free on their end, but they are not paying me either. I’m asking for them to return the exact same favor and do it for free for the person who needs it.

        • Aviandelight @mander.xyz
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          3 months ago

          Do you get lab tests done or annual vaccinations? Because many components used in these products are also provided from processing blood donations. Blood donations are never wasted as everything gets used for something in healthcare. Check out the AABB site for more information. Blood donations are a true gift.

          • Vej@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            I didn’t know that. Can you designate your blood for a given use?

            • Aviandelight @mander.xyz
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              3 months ago

              I believe the only time it is designed like that is for autologous donations. That is where you donate specifically for yourself ahead of time for a procedure. This is really helpful for people with special blood needs or religious exemptions but it’s not really done too often. The only other case I can think of off the top of my head is that new moms can have cord blood banked for personal future use or donate it to stem cell research.

        • Promethiel@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Right. You are righteously protesting. Right on. No joke or bullshit, I applaud conviction.

          Of course, the bastards have made it so that the price of mass protest of this kind is the same folks protesting dying more often.

          That’s also no joke, or bullshit.

          For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction, and if you stare at the abyss too long it stares back at you; same sentiment.

          Same way you don’t kid yourself about the goal, never kid yourself about the price and who pays it or you’re no better than who you protest.

          I’m sorry if this is news, and it is not your fault; let’s head off that trite response.

          But conviction often quantifiably costs blood, and it’s poignant the theme is literal this time which is why I’m taking the chance to blab this much.

          A warrior should know the weight of the sword they heft.

        • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          But where does the money come from? It sucks that in the US it has to come from the patient, but that’s the world we live in right now. I think it’s worth doing all the good you can with the tools available at the moment. Even if it’s not perfect.

          I’m just assuming you’re in the US. Sorry if that’s not the case and your country has a different situation.

            • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s where the money should come from too. I just meant where else is the money going to come from in the current US healthcare system.

              Unfortunately, we don’t live in a country where that’s the case right now. I think it is still a very good thing to donate blood, despite having for-profit/privatized healthcare.

              • lud@lemm.ee
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                3 months ago

                Cracking down on for-profit organizations within the healthcare system would probably save an incredible amount of money.

                • Pika@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 months ago

                  fully agree, but honestly I think it would be easier to just leave the country then ever actually having that happen, it’s too far against those in power’s ideology, which is land of the free but not for thee/only for me

          • Vej@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            The hospitals do make a profit elsewhere. The whole medical industry sucks. Giving a gift then charging the recipient does not sit well for me. I’m not saying don’t donate blood.

            Again it costs calories to make the blood, time, recovery, getting there. That’s coming completely from me. I am just asking the same from them.

            • deranger@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              You can’t pay for donations as that encourages risky behavior. People who shouldn’t donate will if they can make money.

            • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Fair enough. If that’s the philosophy you want to live by, then who am I to say otherwise.

              Personally, I’d rather help people the best I can in the world I live in.

        • rockstarmode@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Your point is valid. As a counterpoint, when I donate (6-7 times a year) I get snacks and drinks during the donation, and a $5-10 gift card for a local fast food spot to fuel up later. I’m also very lucky that I can take most of my meetings using a headset, so I don’t have to miss work, and the donation truck is at my office, so there’s no travel time to or from my appointment.

          I love when CHLA emails me to say they’ll be downstairs in the coming week. I feel good about donating, and get free In-N-Out 😀

        • RidderSport@feddit.de
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          3 months ago

          They are not paying you? Even in Germany, where the patient doesn’t pay, I get money. Granted it’s “only” 20 Euros, regardless whether it’s blood or plasma, but it’s something. Plus I get to eat breakfast there for free.

          • Vej@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            That’s awesome. Around here they just do a news campaign asking for blood. To my knowledge they don’t offer any benefits compensation exct. They also sometimes go to corporate centers and ask for people to skip their lunch breaks to donate. It’s really odd to me.

  • Kostyeah@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    No, because I’m Canadian and our healthcare system actually cares about us. When I donate blood I know that it’s going to a person that needs it and they they won’t be saddled with debt for the rest of their life.

  • eldavi@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    no because i’m banned from donating blood as an american gay man with a (barely) active sex life

  • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Donate anyway. It saves a life. The bills can go unpaid for that person, but without your blood donation they could die. Dying is worse than an unpaid medical bill. Some generous billionaire could come along one day and pay off huge medical debts for patients, on a whim. Some billionaire can’t bring your dead body back to life.

      • ParabolicMotion@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Are you saying that you have so much medical debt that you’re a slave to it? Blood transfusion costs a patient about $250 on average. High rent, rising gasoline prices, and inflation on cost of food makes you a slave. A $250 blood transfusion doesn’t make you a slave, especially when you live in a state that requires you to have health coverage and offers you free state medical insurance if you can’t afford anything else. If you’re going to complain about the high cost of medical care, please complain about MRI costs, without medical insurance, in a state that won’t cover you. I once paid $8000 for an abdominal MRI while out of state. It took me years to pay it off. That, you can complain about, or perhaps the fact that they expected me to return six months later for another one (which I didn’t). You shouldn’t complain about the cost of a blood transfusion that you may never need. Heck, you’re lucky if they have your blood type. I bled out in the hospital in 2012, and no one there had my blood type. There were no pints available for me. They let me lay in a hospital room with a hemoglobin level of 4, waiting for me to regain consciousness. I had to pay the medical bill for using their room to recover! Be mad about that.

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          No I’m saying debt is a means by which many people are locked into their financial circumstances and never manage to pull themselves out of poverty.

          If your entire life is spent working to pay off a life debt - that’s not including paying to eat, drink, sleep under a roof - how is that different from slavery?

          Congrats, you got out of yours. Now maybe have a little empathy for those who can’t.

    • Apeman42@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Some generous billionaire could come along one day and pay off huge medical debts for patients, on a whim.

      Go on then, pull the other one.

  • twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    So this letter board is clearly advertising Canadian blood services. Canada’s healthcare system could use a lot of work, but it is far from the dumpster fire that American healthcare is.

    If you want to shitpost about this and assume as Americans do that America is the only place, maybe try to find an image that isn’t so obviously from a country with universal healthcare.

    • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yup in America we donate the blood to hospitals that sell the blood… So why can’t we deduct blood donations for their monetary value on tax forms?

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        in America you donate blood for free, and your blood gets sold to the hospitals for 100-400 dollars. then the hospitals charge the patients who receive it even more than that.

            • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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              3 months ago

              Are they?

              Canadian Blood Services (CBS) says it plans to introduce the new behaviour-based questionnaire approach “no later” than Sept. 30. It will apply to both blood and plasma donations, outside of Quebec.

              It will mean that when all donors are screened before rolling up their sleeves, they’ll be asked whether they have recently engaged in anal sex in the context of new or multiple sexual partners within the last few months. If they have, they would not be able to donate until they had gone three months without engaging in that activity.

              I thought that change (2022) was the end of the discussion.

              • twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                3 months ago

                Tragically, no. I thought so too until quite recently. They did improve things but it’s pretty rough

                Since a viral load can be reduced to zero through medication, HIV-positive folks can be non contagious. The use of condoms, even if the viral load is not suppressed through medication, seriously reduces the risk of HIV transmission. They don’t ask questions about condom usage. To be clear I’m not suggesting that HIV-positive folks should be donating blood, just that the actual factors for transmission are way more specific than “butt stuff = AIDS” the way that they imply. The result of this is still excluding queer folks end up getting excluded with language that’s less overtly hostile and more implicitly hostile.

                The screening doesn’t exclude people based how many partners a person has slept with, or whether they have used protection (both of which are massive risk factors for transmission) and instead basically forbids anyone who engages in anal sex from donating blood.

                • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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                  3 months ago

                  The last time I donated blood (quite recently) I was asked if I had had a new sex partner or more than one sex partner the last 3 months.

                  I was asked if I had had sex with anyone within the last year that had previously had/ tested positive for hiv/aids.

                  I was asked if I had taken any hiv/aids preventers.

                  Is it the follow-up questions to these initial screening questions that are homophobic?

      • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        In my country you get a day off on top of being paid for your blood donation, I think you get some tax benefits on top of that too.

  • FMEEE@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    Nop I think about who may be gets it but not about the Bill because we have a fucking state run health system im Germany.

  • ReCursing@kbin.social
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    3 months ago

    No because I live in a sane country (well, kinda… but the NHS is still free, and will remain so assuming the tories don’t get back in next election)