OT Can donating blood cause loss of health insurance?

The local blood bank (not Red Cross) where I live now takes the blood you donate for free, and sells it to the hospitals/patients. They then turn around and buy high dollar real estate and pay their execs 6 figure salaries (many of the people gathering the donations are volunteers).

If I was going to give, I would probably go to the place that pays for your donation. I know, that sounds un-American, but I think the "free" place is just a scam.

The answer to the first is no, as far as I know.

But the second question, ah, that's the nastier one! In several ways there are agendas against blood donors. From finding yourself on various interesting lists for types of blood problems, to blood bank battles between the different agencies (with the Red Cross being the nastiest).

The Red Cross has also made life interesting for veterans like me who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Between the threats from them of criminal prosecution and lawsuits over our blood, and the entertaining red flags it's placed in our various medical records, lets just say I feel rather zesty about them.

The Red Cross will not even allow me to donate blood to myself for an surgury. Luckily, they are not the only blood bank in the game. Just the slimiest.

But when you donate blood it is test for many nasty diseases, TB, HIV etc... If the test comes back positive they want to share this information with other health agencies to prevent you from donating somewhere else (it happens). They will also share this information with county health departments.

Giving blood is a great benefit to society, but like some hide for pain and danger, many will never donate.

Wait till someone you love needs it and the supply is too low.

I have my 3 gallon pin, and I think some of my donation records got mislaid when our county changed blood centers.

Soundguy

In line with what you say, I've heard that the body has no natural mechanism for eliminating iron which enters the system, and that high elemental iron levels in the blood are associated with cardiovascular problems in men. The only way to reduce blood iron levels is to lose blood and produce new blood. Donating blood is probably the least traumatic way to do that. If this is true it seems reasonable to think that the same thing might apply to other elemental metals.

I contracted infectious hepatitis (as it was called before they started lettering it) when I was in the army in Korea in 1969. The only lasting effect of it is a lifetime prohibition against donating blood. I worry about the metal concentration levels in my blood. Maybe I should see about getting some leeches.

All the best, Stan

Donating blood can save lives with minimal effort on the part of the donor. I was badly injured in an auto accident when 17 years old. It took the donations of many contributors to keep me alive, for which I am eternally grateful, and I now reciprocate as often as possible. As an aside, donating platelets, while a bit more time consuming, can also save lives and can be done more often because the blood is returned to your body.