Does the Red Cross sell blood?
No. The Red Cross serves as a conduit between a volunteer blood donor and a forgiving who needs blood to survive a personal disaster. There is never a fee for blood itself. The Red Cross charges its hospital customers and processing fee to rest expenses incurred in recruiting and educating donors, keep accurate donor collection, collecting, testing, processing and distributing blood. Hospitals charge patients for handling, storing, and transfusing blood or blood components. These charges help to offset the costs of making blood transfusions as nontoxic as possible and are usually covered by health insurance.
