Plasma donors should be paid $5,000 per visit. The system is exploiting people. amirite?

You should start a plasma donation company and pay $5k per visit.

by Brilliant-Reality418 3 days ago

I'm thinking of doing so. I really am.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Enjoy bankruptcy

by Smooth-Sky 3 days ago

These places make like 5k per liter in net profit. Profit. OP can pay 2k a liter and still stay in business lol. They really do have a good point.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Facilities, employees, marketing, logistics, supply, etc. are all costs they have. As someone that does it twice a week for an extra $115 total I agree they could afford to pay more but it certainly isn't thousands.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

I haven't looked into TweeTsu's numbers, but assuming they're correct. All the costs you just mentioned are included before net profit is calculated. It's definitely a highly predatory business and there is almost certainly a market niche for a less predatory version.

by Quiet_Car 3 days ago

I'm sure they have more costs than paying the donor....

by Anonymous 3 days ago

He literally said net profit my guy.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

I'm a Medical Lab Scientist, a practically invisible part of the healthcare team. I understand people's frustration with others profiting from their blood products. But it's also pretty demoralizing to hear people speak about it as if their blood is worth anything without all of the testing and processing we do. I can't work for free, and I honestly feel we deserve to get paid for our work.

by Old_Revolution 3 days ago

I quickly picked one one the major plasma companies, Grifols. Last year, they had a net profit margin of 2.18%.

by Cruickshankelda 3 days ago

Where is this balance sheet?

by Smooth-Sky 3 days ago

LOL sending an audiobook when the balance sheet is requested tells me that the other person is an idiot.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Hey now. I'm certain "blood money" is a nuanced and unbiased take on the industry that covers the whole story without spin.

by Smooth-Sky 3 days ago

Yea I'm going to assume all of their "stats" are wrong or misrepresented if they are sending audiobooks instead of some form of data.

by Collinsjayme 3 days ago

It's a very poorly kept secret that everything related to the health industry is massively profitable because they take way way way more than they give.

by whitekelsi 3 days ago

In my country you don't get anything just a sandwich and a juice box. Imagine how expensive the medication would be if a plasma giver received $5000. It would also mean the some would lie on the health questions.

by Effertzmaggie 3 days ago

In the US, the law is that blood donation that goes to hospitals and directly into patients must be donated for free; no payment to the donor. (Although they're allowed to give gift cards, shirts, raffle drawings, etc.) Payment can be given for plasma donation, which is used in cosmetics and health research.

by Upbeat-Cancel-6595 3 days ago

Plasma is also used in making pharmaceuticals

by Anonymous 3 days ago

The loophole for plasma is they are paying you for your time not the plasma itself. The argument falls apart with even the slightest scrutiny since if they end up getting none you get no pay, if you end up taken off the machine even through no fault of your own and have given less than a certain amount you either get nothing or half a payment, and if you end up taking longer than average to complete your donation you don't get paid more. Also, there is no law about blood donation payment. They could use the same loophole but choose not to because the assumption is people will lie to get the money.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Then they charge the patient $1,300, because the law is not there to help the people.

by Last-Dragonfruit 3 days ago

yet they have no problem charging a foot and a leg for providing it to someone else hah ironic

by Alarmed_Instance5638 3 days ago

If donating plasma paid $5000/visit there would be no shortage of plasma. Every single person who is able to donate it would donate as often as they could, except maybe people with tens or hundred of millions in the bank. It's just basic economics. The companies pay the absolute minimum they can and still get the amount of people they need to donate.

by weissnatmonica 3 days ago

Basic capitalism you mean. Just because it's profitable doesn't mean it's not exploitation.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

The laws of supply and demand exist with or without capitalism. Please open one (1) econ book. I beg of you.

by LastCaregiver 3 days ago

If you feel like you're being exploited when you give plasma, don't give plasma?

by Anonymous 3 days ago

they probably dont

by Alarmed_Instance5638 3 days ago

Some counteies put a cap or even forbid to pay for those donation to avoid exploitation. There is a risk that if you could sell blood for extensive amount, it would encourage people to risky behaviour (donating too much) at cost of their health, or being forced by some other people to do so in order for example to pay their debts. I am not really sure if this could happen, but this was one of the argument in my country (Poland) while there was discussion if people should be allow to sell their blod for profits (currently donors cannot be paid), and situation in Egipt where even exhusted people were still selling their blood to afford living. It is making some moral delema

by Anonymous 3 days ago

The current system benefits the companies using the plasma. Supply is constrained, so selling prices are high. But they get to pay low prices by controlling the market and exploiting people's empathy and/or desperation.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

In some countries you don't get nothing because it's a donation

by GarageSalty 3 days ago

Forgive me if I'm wrong, I live in a country with free healthacre so I'm unsure of the ins and outs of paying for medical care, but wouldn't that make treatment more expensive for the poorly person?

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Methinks you're seriously underestimating what it takes to safely and correctly collect, screen, prepare, store, and distribute bags of (freaking) human blood. I'm quite sure I couldn't make a go of it if the blood was completely free.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Strange to call it donating if you're being paid, albeit poorly.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

No. Just no. The companies shouldn't be for profit to begin with.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

Ah America. Forgetting the rest of the world exists.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

To be fair, US centers are shipping plasma to other countries. For instance, CSL Plasma (an Australian company) has several hundred for profit locations in the US. And all of them are compliant with European collection standards because plasma is shipped overseas.

by Illustrious-Sell-193 3 days ago

Or China. Or India. Or Iran. Or Germany (thanks merck!)

by Downtown_Scar 3 days ago

Lemme guess, you're Canadian or Australian lol

by Time-Tree 3 days ago

Nailed it.

by Lopsided-Proposal102 3 days ago

You guys are getting paid? I've done it for free for years. I am in the UK though and we dont have your fun insurance based system. So blood doesnt cost you in the hospital, you just get it.

by Hettie81 3 days ago

This isn't blood: it's the proteins in the blood; aka plasma. Very different (and there's very few ailments that would cause a person to need a plasma donation).

by Real-Consequence 3 days ago

There are more than very few ailments that need plasma

by Anonymous 3 days ago

False. Plasma is specifically used to treat clotting disorders. There are a several ailments that require plasma-derivative medicine, but that isn't using plasma to treat the ailment: it's using a protein within plasma.

by Real-Consequence 3 days ago

For example, a person receiving ivig is in need of a plasma donation even if not directly. There are more than very few ailments that need plasma.

by Anonymous 3 days ago

I know iv given plasma too, dont get paid for that either.

by Hettie81 3 days ago

...that doesn't make any sense. Plasma is used in pharmaceuticals and medical research. Things that cost money, even in the UK. You're donating plasma so that companies can increase their profits...out of the kindness of your heart?

by Real-Consequence 3 days ago

I did my own research and it does literally say the UK takes plasma for free....which...doesn't make a lot of sense because it doesn't have a lot of "emergency" utility. Further, they specifically cannot use UK-donated blood plasma in medicine. Some history: up until 2009, the UK imported US blood plasma. Which is weird, considering UK laws and where the US gets its plasma from.....

by Real-Consequence 2 days ago

What? Plasma has plenty of utility for "real" medicine. Lots of patients will get platelets and FFP infused in the same session as part of the same care, let alone all the antibody therapy stuff.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

No, plasma is also used in hospitals

by Anonymous 2 days ago

throws up

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Depending on what the product is, you would indeed be paying for human plasma components in the UK. Ie for cosmetic injections

by Anonymous 2 days ago

In the UK we don't get paid for giving blood or plasma.

by percywiza 2 days ago

Eh you're not far off the mark. All of those places intentionally set up near poor or struggling areas purely so they'll have a repeat desperate clientele. And they do make huge profits per liter. The incentives should be much higher than they currently are. They really will pay someone 50 bucks then sell their plasma for like 8 grand, it's kind of disgusting.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

exactly man. they don't build plasma centers next to Whole Foods, they build them next to Dollar Trees. they know exactly who's struggling enough to keep coming back. and yeah… selling our plasma for $8K after handing us a $50 gift card? that's not donation. that's disguised exploitation. appreciate you seeing the game for what it is.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

You're wrong. Price has absolutely nothing to do with what the donor deserves. This isn't even an opinion it's simply incongruent with reality.

by flavie33 2 days ago

the entire healthcare industry is built on the concept of pricing human contributions. if my plasma generates thousands in downstream revenue, you're telling me the person who provided it deserves nothing tied to that value? that's not "incongruent with reality"—that is the reality. the only thing off is how comfortably people defend a system built on desperation.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

In my local area they expect you to do it for free only and the ones who pay are two and a half hours away and pay as low as $30 if you even qualify. I don't know what people talk about when they say it's a way to make money when you're desperate.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The opposite: donating plasma should be free. Having any sort of monetary incentive at all encourages exploitation of the poor.

by ChanceFederal 2 days ago

I mean I think this is somewhat unpopular because your numbers are probably way off and you're missing big costs for them. Do you have any other sources besides a random audio book you've been replying to others with?

by Collinsjayme 2 days ago

It's called a donation for a reason... Don't donate if you're dojng it just for the money. And if u start offering 5k per donation you're gonna go bankrupt very quickly

by Anonymous 2 days ago

i get it—it's called a donation. but once a company profits from that donation, we're not in charity territory anymore, we're in business. and if they're flipping it into thousands in revenue? then paying the donor isn't greed, it's basic respect. nobody's asking for a million bucks. we're just asking why the people doing the bleeding are the ones getting the least.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Bitch do you know what donation is

by Perfect_Business 2 days ago

Donor implies not getting a reward for the deed. What you want is to sell blood legally.

by Southern-Kangaroo-93 2 days ago

Technically, you're donating the plasma and they're paying you for your time in doing so. It's a loophole but one the industry exploits happily.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

In America, you can get paid for plasma donations.

by qglover 2 days ago

I get a milkshake, a caremello koala and a thank you.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

They destroyed my right arm. I have constant pain in it now because of it.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I'll just give my sperm thank you very much

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I think this may be some legal limitations. I don't think they can "pay" donors but rather "compensate" for their time and inconvenience.

by Amazing_Listen 2 days ago

Well you see, what would happen is everyone would quit their job and start donating plasma.

by qglover 2 days ago

Okay. If nobody donates plasma, they'll start paying more. Idk about $5000. Then nobody would work, and we would all just donate plasma twice a month.

by Rosendo80 2 days ago

I have no idea how companies work.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

is, but i genuinely believe No you'd don't.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

You get paid? We get a sausage roll and a chocolate milk

by Small-Ad4478 2 days ago

In Canada at least, blood donations are mostly through Canadian Blood Services, which is a non profit charity funded by the government.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The system is exploiting people by forcibly engineering the absurdly high prices of the products they make using the plasma to make insane profits at the expense of the people who need them. The main problem isn't that the donors aren't paid enough (though i somewhat agree that they aren't), it is that those buying these products are paying way more than they should be.

by Ill_Chemist2169 2 days ago

that's a really slippery slope full of ethical issues

by Leather-Print 2 days ago

this isn't being ungrateful. it's being aware. Or.. unaware of what it takes to run a business, unaware that as a business owner, you don't go around paying more for things when you don't have to. If the place you are going to gets enough customers for $75, why should they pay more?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

know their worth in capitalism, things are worth what people are willing to pay. Example: Nike Air Jordans are stupidly cost excessive, not to mention Nike's horrible business practices, but there are plenty of other people willing to pay their prices which create massive profit margins for nike. It's the same across many industries and verticals, the market decides the value of something, not morals, not cost of production

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Completely agree there should be better compensation since they're always begging for it. Same goes for blood or organ donation.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Do you want to bankrupt the healthcare system? It's a great way to push people to private hospitals and clinics instead of public hospitals…

by Local-Fly4637 2 days ago

Watching USians have no idea of how much healthcare actually costs and thinking that their exorbitant inflated prices are the actual cost is always incredible.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

There's a place down the road from me that pays 50 the first few times then it goes down to 25 if you're under 150lbs. It's on the bad side of town so it's absolutely full of crackheads and they don't drug test anybody or test them for any diseases.

by Anonymous 2 days ago