There are no upper age limitations. Your health history is evaluated at the blood collection site. The Red Cross collects blood only from voluntary donors. The Red Cross charges hospitals a processing fee to cover the expenses of recruiting, collecting, testing, processing, and distributing blood and blood products. This fee is directly related to costs.
Hospitals pass the charges on to the patient whose health insurance plan usually covers the expense.
The blood itself is never charges for because it is a volunteer s free gift. Each year approximately 8 million volunteer donors give about 14 million blood donations that s over 38,000 donations a day. Your medical situation determines which blood component you may need. Red Blood cells are the cells that give your blood its red color. Red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to your body s tissue and take carbon dioxide back to your lungs to be exhaled.