Storing Your Baby's Umbilical Cord Blood – How Much Does It Cost?
While paying for the storage of your baby's umbilical cord blood in a bank can be costly over an extended period of time, it can still save you money in the long run and, more importantly, save your child's life in the future as well. There are a number of umbilical cord blood banks and storage facilities all over the country, but not all of them use the same methods of preserving umbilical cord blood . They also charge different fees. To give you a general idea of how much it will cost you to have y our baby's umbilical cord blood stored, this article will provide an overview of the fees charged by most credible cord blood banks and storage facilities.
The average cost of storing umbilical cord blood
Most private umbilical cord blood banks charge two kinds of fees. According to the rates provided by www.parenthood.com , the first is the initial payment that ranges from $1,500 to $1,800. Usually, this fee makes up the amount needed for enrolling in the cord blood banking program, the cost incurred by extracting the blood from the umbilical cord, and the first year's upkeep payment. This upkeep payment is the second kind of fee that cord blood banks charge. According to www.parenthood.com , the typical upkeep payment for a unit of blood is $75 every year. For this amount, the blood bank will make sure that your baby's blood is well-preserved and healthy.
All these costs may sound like these cord blood banks are charging you a lot, but actually, most blood banks are just operating at the break-even point or in some cases, are losing money. This is because the cost of maintaining the blood requires the use of very expensive technology and equipment.
Some blood banks claim that it costs up to $1,000 to keep inert umbilical cord blood healthy. This involves several complex scientific processes. Making the blood suitable for usage is not as simple as siphoning it out of the umbilical cord and locking it in a freezer. First, the blood will be carefully gravity-extracted so that very little trauma will be left on the stem cells themselves. Next, the blood will be checked for the presence of infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis. If these diseases are present in the blood, it will no longer be suitable for treatment purposes. After this, the red blood cells will be eliminated from the sample, leaving only the bacteria-fighting white blood cells and the undeveloped stem cells. Finally, the blood will be sealed and frozen usually in large tanks of liquid nitrogen. These processes really cost money to carry out.
Possible alternative to umbilical cord banking
If you do not want to keep your baby's umbilical cord blood in a bank, then you can just buy some if ever you need it. Unfortunately, this will lead you to spending more money than if you had just stored your baby's umbilical cord blood in a bank. Some public cord blood banks charge $15,000 for a single unit of blood. If the unit of blood will be sourced from outside the United States , then it can double the cost that you will have to pay. It is also important to note that leukemia and lymphoma patients usually need not just one but multiple units of cord blood for transplants.