I explained CMV in my post #21.
At one time, in the US, it was pretty standard that if you received blood, you were charged for it unless you replaced it. Well, not necessarily replace it yourself; if you could get enough donors, you were covered. Donors would say "I'm donating for Joe Smith" and Joe would get credit for the replacement.
When my father needed blood, I rounded up a bunch of donors. My mother called the blood bank & got the list of everyone who donated in Dad's name. She wrote them a thank you letter, which pretty well startled them. Especially the total stranger who called her back. He'd come into the Blood Bank to donate and asked "who needs blood today?" The intake person mentioned that a whole group had come in to donate for Dad, so Total Stranger said "Looks like he's in need. Credit my donation to him."
In many cases now, insurance covers the blood. Mr. Nutrax's 12 units was covered by his insurance.
In my area, a group can set up an account to cover member's blood needs. It can be a club, an employee group, a family, or anything else. When you donate, you can credit it to the Smallville Rotary Club, for instance. If any Rotarian needs blood, he/she can draw from the credits to that account & won't have to pay for the blood.
Some blood banks also allow for "direct donation." Here's how the Red Cross explains it
Patients scheduled for surgery may be eligible to donate blood for themselves in the weeks before non-emergency surgery in a process known as autologous donation. If an autologous donation is not used, it is discarded. Family members and friends can also make directed donations. Directed donations are fully tested, so if they are not used by the intended patient, they can be released for use by other patients.
