There is a massive profit made along the chain from selling donated blood in the USA to hospitals and patients - we're talking billion of dollars (the Red Cross is very guilty, so is Baxter and other corporations).<p>The plasma payment model works just fine, I say try it for other things that are renewable.
I probably just don't fully understand the situation, however this seems bad. I'm usually for capitalism and the concept of supply and demand, but not in this case.<p>What's my marrow worth to me? Probably not much; a bit of time and discomfort but overall not a huge deal. However, for the buyer, it's the matter of life or death. Seems like it would be easy to extort someone who <i>needs</i> it.<p>This is one of the rare cases where I hope the market is very heavily regulated -- say, "Bone marrow is worth $1k. It's illegal to ask for more."