X-Message-Number: 24017
From: 
Subject: Re: CI Member Cremated by Cousin 
Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 20:40:36 US/Eastern

  Rudi Hoffman wrote:

> Life insurance proceeds go DIRECTLY to the specified beneficiary.  They do 

> NOT go through probate.  They do NOT go to creditors of the beneficiary.  They
> do NOT go to relatives, family, or friends who may feel they have a right to 
> the money.  
>
> Equally important, the cash is "magically" created from the life insurance 
> proceeds.  And does NOT reduce the amount going to the heirs.  
>

> So, even more important than the fact that life insurance is in virtually all
> circumstances by far the most COST EFFECTIVE way to fund your suspension, 
> it also reduces the chance for a tragedy and travesty like the recent CI 
> non-suspension. 


    Rudi, in the past we have enjoyed a relationship of respect & goodwill and I
    
hope that we can do so in the future. Nonetheless, this statement of yours seems
too loaded with insurance-salesman hype and Alcor-partisanism for me
to let pass without comment. Insurance funding per se is not a panacea and the
cremation of a CI Member by his cousin was a tragedy, but not a "travesty"
indicating that CI is run by idiots. It could have happened at Alcor. We at CI 
have warned our Members of the danger of leaving money to relatives who
might benefit from the failure to cryopreserve -- but still leave Members the 
choice, as I believe we should. We will make greater efforts to encourage 
our Members to make better choices, and it is my hope that people at Alcor
will do the same -- learn from our horrible experience. 

    When I was Secretary of CryoCare it was my duty to give proceeds from
Timothy Leary's insurance policy (which had named CryoCare as beneficiary)
to the estate of Timothy Leary. CryoCare had not delivered the cryopreservation

service to Leary that his insurance policy had been intended to fund (Mike 
Darwin

chose not to charge for the aborted standby). The money created by the insurance

policy went to heirs due to a failure to cryopreserve. Insurance funding is not
a cure-all. More important than insurance is the financial incentives and the
choice of persons responsible for cryopreservation -- Power of Attorney for 
Health Care and/or Living Will when relatives are not suitable. And a will that
disinherits anyone who obstructs the cryopreservation (or gives a $1 token). 

   Again, Rudi, lets be friends and not insult each other. You have made a
terrific contribution to cryonics with your insurance expertise and I genuinely
appreciate that. Some problems do require solutions at least partially outside 
of the domain of insurance, however. 

                   -- Ben Best  

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