X-Message-Number: 2973
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 23:10:58 -0400
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <>
Subject: CRYONICS -- Re: Cryonics Fees and Insurance Rates

> It would seem that, to be fair, cryonics association annual fees,
> like insurance premiums, should be different for a 40 year old in
> good health than for an 85-year old with terminal cancer, ...

Why?  It's the insurance premiums (or other methods of making lots
of money available to the Cryonics organization at the time of one's
legal death) which pay for one's suspension, not one's annual dues.

My impression is that the only purpose of the dues is for day-to-day
operating expenses, which don't depend on one's longevity.  It makes
no financial difference whether the 40 year old quits after 3 years,
or the 85 year old dies after 3 years.  Either way, there's less
income, but also no need to maintain readiness for that person's
future suspension.

A history of paying dues also helps proves that one was serious about
cryonics, rather than being tricked into it at the last minute by
relatives or by an unscrupulous cryonics organization.

> Mike Darwin says that this is because only insurance companies can
> charge variable rates.  If movie theaters and restaurants can charge
> different amounts based on age, why not cryonics organizations?

Perhaps it's legal to "discriminate" against people who are young,
white, and/or male, but not against people who are old, non-white,
and/or female?  I don't know.

> If cryonics organizations WERE to become an insurance company (e.g.,
> if all the organizations banded together so they could come up with
> the necessary money to do so), cryonics organizations could provide
> the insurance for all its members, thereby eliminating the huge
> profits insurance companies make on the life insurance policies that
> most members must buy to pay for their suspensions and long-term care.

I think insurance should be left to insurance companies.  Some years
they make a profit.  But then along comes AIDS, or a major flood, or
other unexpected disaster, and they can be wiped out, unless they have
a *lots* of capital, or a *very* broad customer base.

If one's insurance company goes under, one can make other arrangements
for suspension, or fund it out of savings.  But if one's cryonics
organization goes under?  I don't think cryonics organizations should
take the risk.

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