X-Message-Number: 2995 Date: Thu, 18 Aug 94 17:22:58 From: Subject: CRYONICS Group Insurance Steve Van Sickle writes (in Message: #2992 - Re: Insurance) >What about sympathetic organizations *other* than cryonics >societies. The Venturists immediately leap to mind. Or starting >from scratch with a new "Fraternal Benefits Society". "The Loyal >Order of Demi-Gods" or something. Not only could we get group >insurance, but we could drink too much beer, wear funny hats, >and learn secret handshakes. Great fun. Well, I think that you'd have to come up with some pretty important looking funny hats to get an insurer to believe that the "group" exists for anything other than getting cryonics insurance coverage. Who knows, though. All I know about Fraternal Benefits Societies is that Alcor isn't one. Clues, anyone? >And perhaps a group could get insurance for what individuals >cannot: remote stand-by. I don't think there is any standard form of insurance (life, health, or otherwise) which would cover standby. As with liability insurance for cryonics, an insurer wouldn't have the kind of data necessary to know just what risk to assign to a "standby" insurance policy. I imagine there is at least some data to be unearthed about what kinds of illnesses, diseases, etc., lead to death and what sort of time frame might be involved for people of varying ages and states of health. But standby is much more complicated and ambiguous than that. E.g., The company has no way of knowing if the patient has a living will which says "Please pull plug pronto." Nor can they know what hospital the patient might end up in, or what the procedures and policies for resuscitating dying patients might be in the hospital. Furthermore, until there are a whole bunch more of us, I can't see why an insurer would be motivated ($$$) to sort his way through all of that stuff. I have heard of a non-standard way for a group to insure itself, though, called a Mutual Indemnity Society. My understanding is that such societies have been formed by groups such as farmers who can't get insurance for their crops, but who would like to insure themselves against failure nonetheless. I guess the idea is that everyone pays into one fund, and payments are made whenever someone has a claim to make. I don't know much beyond this, though. Has anyone else heard of Mutual Indemnity Societies, and if so, do you have any idea if we could form one, or how to go about finding out? >Stephen Van Sickle >Maker of Extra Work for the Membership Administrator Whadda ya mean "Work?" This ain't work. Now farming, *that's* work! Forward in all directions! Derek Ryan Membership Administrator Alcor Life Extension Foundation Ph. # 602-922-9013 Email: Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2995