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I've often wondered if it would be economically feasible for blood donation banks to do this as a perk/incentive for giving blood. Every 6 months or so, you do

I've often wondered if it would be economically feasible for blood donation banks to do this as a perk/incentive for giving blood. Every 6 months or so, you donate blood and as part of the process you get run-of-the-mill bloodwork report emailed to you a few days later. You'd have to make sure you weren't creating an incentive for sick people to donate blood just for the lab work, but otherwise it seems like it would be an excellent perk for donating blood.

mensetmanusman 6y ago
That is an amazing idea. I would definitely be more incentivized to give blood if it gave me a run down of various nutrients just from a curiosity point of view. E.g. what are my selenium levels compared to the general population?
- foota 6y ago
  Depends, how much browser integration testing are you doing?
  - 3gg 6y ago
    This was a good joke; good work must be recognized.
  - sunshinerag 6y ago
    nice one.
nucleardog 6y ago
Seems like that could easily work places with universal healthcare. Very little incentive to donate for free lab work when any medically necessary lab work would be done for free anyway. And second that, would happily donate in exchange for curiousity-fulfilling bloodwork.
- dimensi0nal 6y ago
  The obstacle isn’t the cost of labs, it’s the gatekeeping. Having to go to the doctor for basic bloodwork is still inconvenient even if it’s free.
  - ex3ndr 6y ago
    But even in USA you can go and get blood test without a doctor.
  - nucleardog 6y ago
    The comment I replied to was suggesting doing these panels as part of donating blood as an added incentive, but was worried that people would intentionally donate while unhealthy in order to receive free lab work. I said that isn't a problem places where medical lab work already has no cost, as no one would be incentivized to donate blood just to receive lab work. Not sure where this got lost along the way since this is one of two comments effectively replying to the same misunderstanding.
- refurb 6y ago
  I think the key is “medically necessary”. If I went to my doctor in Canada and said “can you run a panel of genetic tests” he’d say “no, that’s a waste of money because you don’t have any other risk factors”.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
werber 6y ago
I’ve had a similar thought but the opposite conclusion on sick people.
spease 6y ago
I wonder if the business model could be a free or nearly free blood / genetic test for people. Each time you donate, you select either one genetic test panel or one blood test panel. The organization uses the money saved / earned from the blood donation to pay for the test. Possibly it also requires signing off on providing information to a research study as an additional revenue stream to pay for the testing / subsidize the creation of new panels. I'm guessing this may not be economically feasible though. Additionally, you have the issue that people who can't afford health insurance would be literally selling their body for healthcare. Strictly speaking, it might be better than the alternative, but it's still not good that it's even necessary to consider something like this.
progman32 6y ago
There are fairly silly exclusions to donating blood. I was recently (but apparently no longer, thanks to new rules?) blocked from donating blood because I spent too much time in Europe. Would be unfortunate to gate this care on such eligibility.
- s1artibartfast 6y ago
  this seems like an example of a good solution being the enemy of the great one. I don't think anyone is suggesting that simple bloodwork would be disallowed from other sources and this could be a good incentive.
- tzs 6y ago
  You were probably blocked because of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (AKA human bovine spongiform encephalopathy AKA human mad cow disease). The US recently removed the block for this on: • people who were stationed with the military or lived on a base in Europe from 1980-1996, and • people who lived in Europe for five years or more from 1980 to the present, except for two exceptions. Those are people who lived in Ireland or France for 5 years or more cumulatively from 1980-2001, and people who lived in the UK for 3 months or more cumulatively from 1980-1996. Canada, New Zealand, Poland, Finland and the Czech Republic have similar rules, according to Wikipedia.
MaurizioPz 6y ago
At least in Italy in part it works that way. You get some tests at every donation (like HIV) and some once a year (like colesterol) https://www.portaledeldono.it/donare/esami-al-donatore/ https://www.portaledeldono.it/donare/esami-al-donatore/ (link in italian)

mensetmanusman 6y ago

That is an amazing idea. I would definitely be more incentivized to give blood if it gave me a run down of various nutrients just from a curiosity point of view. E.g. what are my selenium levels compared to the general population?

foota 6y ago
Depends, how much browser integration testing are you doing?
- 3gg 6y ago
  This was a good joke; good work must be recognized.
- sunshinerag 6y ago
  nice one.

nucleardog 6y ago

Seems like that could easily work places with universal healthcare. Very little incentive to donate for free lab work when any medically necessary lab work would be done for free anyway. And second that, would happily donate in exchange for curiousity-fulfilling bloodwork.

dimensi0nal 6y ago
The obstacle isn’t the cost of labs, it’s the gatekeeping. Having to go to the doctor for basic bloodwork is still inconvenient even if it’s free.
- ex3ndr 6y ago
  But even in USA you can go and get blood test without a doctor.
- nucleardog 6y ago
  The comment I replied to was suggesting doing these panels as part of donating blood as an added incentive, but was worried that people would intentionally donate while unhealthy in order to receive free lab work. I said that isn't a problem places where medical lab work already has no cost, as no one would be incentivized to donate blood just to receive lab work. Not sure where this got lost along the way since this is one of two comments effectively replying to the same misunderstanding.
refurb 6y ago
I think the key is “medically necessary”. If I went to my doctor in Canada and said “can you run a panel of genetic tests” he’d say “no, that’s a waste of money because you don’t have any other risk factors”.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

werber 6y ago

I’ve had a similar thought but the opposite conclusion on sick people.

spease 6y ago

I wonder if the business model could be a free or nearly free blood / genetic test for people. Each time you donate, you select either one genetic test panel or one blood test panel. The organization uses the money saved / earned from the blood donation to pay for the test. Possibly it also requires signing off on providing information to a research study as an additional revenue stream to pay for the testing / subsidize the creation of new panels. I'm guessing this may not be economically feasible though. Additionally, you have the issue that people who can't afford health insurance would be literally selling their body for healthcare. Strictly speaking, it might be better than the alternative, but it's still not good that it's even necessary to consider something like this.

progman32 6y ago

There are fairly silly exclusions to donating blood. I was recently (but apparently no longer, thanks to new rules?) blocked from donating blood because I spent too much time in Europe. Would be unfortunate to gate this care on such eligibility.

s1artibartfast 6y ago
this seems like an example of a good solution being the enemy of the great one. I don't think anyone is suggesting that simple bloodwork would be disallowed from other sources and this could be a good incentive.
tzs 6y ago
You were probably blocked because of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (AKA human bovine spongiform encephalopathy AKA human mad cow disease). The US recently removed the block for this on: • people who were stationed with the military or lived on a base in Europe from 1980-1996, and • people who lived in Europe for five years or more from 1980 to the present, except for two exceptions. Those are people who lived in Ireland or France for 5 years or more cumulatively from 1980-2001, and people who lived in the UK for 3 months or more cumulatively from 1980-1996. Canada, New Zealand, Poland, Finland and the Czech Republic have similar rules, according to Wikipedia.

MaurizioPz 6y ago

At least in Italy in part it works that way. You get some tests at every donation (like HIV) and some once a year (like colesterol) https://www.portaledeldono.it/donare/esami-al-donatore/ https://www.portaledeldono.it/donare/esami-al-donatore/ (link in italian)