now the red cross saying they re desperately in need of blood donations. bryan yennis live with more. what an interesting take on this story. reporter: it really is. it s been snow storm after ice storm, causing propane gas shortages and salt shortages and now a nationwide blood shortage. the wintery mess and freezing temperatures keeping potential donors at home in 33 states and washington, d.c., causing 33,000 donation. that s equivalent to if the red cross had closed its doors nationwide for two days. the need is urgent for blood donors, especially those with type 0 negative blood. a universal blood that can be used during emergency situations. when a patient s blood type is unknown. and with more snow expected to hit tomorrow, the new york blood center is trying to make sure area hospitals are stocked. red cells, which is what most of these people are donating, expire in 42 days. so it s just like any other kind of consumable product.
think of spleen as almost like the united states army camp where the soldiers go, they rest up and get ready for the war. all the old red cells that are filtered and the white cells are ready for far and the platelets are there. sometimes as a result of infection or virus or the kissing disease, the spleen can be enlarged. if you have leukemia or a rupture of the spleen it can be removed. can you live without a spleen? the answer is, yes. but you will be at the risk of not having the soldiers ready to fight. you have to get vaccinations and your pneumonia vaccine. any kind of infection can put you into trouble. it is a vital organ. dr.siegel all these things we can live without, include in that list the tonsils.
blood for doping purposes, for example? absolutely that would be banned. i m not trying to agitate you. i m just trying to make sure your testimony is clear. okay. all right. the whole point of blood doping is to increase the number of red cells in your circulation. the blood transfusions have the advantage of not being detectable. even today we don t have a foolproof method of establishing when an athlete has reinfused their own blood. so does that mean that athletes now and cyclists now are transfusing their own blood back into themselves? there s no doubt. there s no doubt that s happening. next, a new test for doping expo exposes armstrong s old secrets.
you ve never used your own blood for doping purposes, for example? absolutely that would be banned. okay. i m not trying to agitate you. i m just trying to make sure your testimony is clear. okay. all right. the whole point of blood doping is to increase the number of red cells in your circulation. the blood transfusions have the advantage of not being detectable. even today we don t have a foolproof method of establishing when an athlete has reinfused their own blood. so does that mean that athletes now and cyclists now are transfusing their own blood back into themselves? there s no doubt. there s no doubt that s happening. next, a new test for doping exposes armstrong s old secrets. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd. [ male announcer ] the parking lot helps by letting us know who s coming.
good question and a very useful question. i don t think actually that s the our chief problem here. but just let s talk about two of those cuts. we know that over the last decade, we have actually been paying the medicare advantage plans at least 14% too much given the population that they have enrolled. so $165 billion of those savings directly out of the medicare advantage plans. and then there are other things. as lab tests have gotten automated and you don t have a person looking in the microscope and counting the number of red cells and things and a machine does it, we ve actually never had a decrease in productivity. final word to the senator. joe, the american people realize that you can t cover 25 million more people without adding a dime to the deficit. the number of broken promises that president obama made in had health care law are legion. and that s the problem. american people simply don t believe one simple question. the government can t do this. senator, w