X-Message-Number: 29855
From: 
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:15:55 EDT
Subject: more about prices

Kennta Watson wrote in part:
 
>CI member can forgo some
>of the services to save money but  will pay close to
>as much if all of them are opted for
 
I suspect not very many prospective members have a good  understanding of the 
risks and costs. Like some other aspects of cryonics, a  cursory examination 
of issues isn't adequate. 
 
Kennita was saying that Cryonics Institute (CI) plus services  of Suspended 
Animation (SA) costs nearly as much as Alcor, if Alcor's membership  fees are 
left out of account. But "CI + SA" is not a toggle choice--there are  several 
alternatives, and it is important to understand the upsides and  downsides.
 
First of all, the usefulness or uselessness of remote and  standby services 
depends heavily on location and on the circumstances of death.  In a large or 
at least substantial number of cases, there is not sufficient  warning of high 
risk of impending death for remote services (other than a local  funeral 
director) to make any sense. In many cases the patient can arrive in  Detroit 
before a remote team could arrive at the location of death
 
Note also that SA is based in Florida and Alcor is based in  Arizona. For 

prospective members in Florida or nearby, there could sometimes be  an advantage
of many hours in SA services. For members in Michigan or nearby  there may be 
little or no advantage to services other than CI and a local  mortician.
 
In any event, as I understand it, Alcor offers a fixed plan,  one size fits 
all, and the member pays for the estimated cost of remote services  whether or 
not such services are used or useful. With CI and SA together, on the  other 
hand, the CI web site (_www.cryonics.org_ (http://www.cryonics.org) ) offers a 
variety of choices  and payment plans. 
 
CI is also flexible in other ways. For example, an appreciable  fraction of 
prospective members are elderly, with adequate incomes but not much  cash and 

unable to buy affordable life insurance, who nevertheless have homes  and other
assets that would suffice if liquidated after death. CI is in  principle 

willing to consider a legal pledge of such assets for funding, with  individual
attention and negotiation. 
 
R.E. 

 



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