X-Message-Number: 2998
Date:  Fri, 19 Aug 94 16:59:22 
From: 
Subject: CRYONICS Self Insurance


Thanks for your comments re insurance, Mike.  They were very 
helpful.

I agree that having all relevant medical information on our members 
would be very useful, and I also agree that we should move further 
in this direction.

But I don't see that this motivation in and of itself is enough to 
warrant a move into the insurance business (even combined with 
the possibility of pure monetary profit.)

Insurance companies fail.  When they fail, their customers are 
sometimes just completely screwed.  Using life insurance from 
standard companies, our members already run this risk.  But they 
assume the risk individually.  No one insurance company holds a 
monopoly over cryonics policies, and the risk is therefore 
distributed and the likely damage of any failure contained.

What reason is there to believe that any of the current cryonics 
companies would be particularly successful as an insurance 
company?  Even if we grant that it is easy to make money this way, 
why take on the risk when there are so many others out there 
already assuming the risk for us, with much greater resources at 
their disposal in case of failure?

And if it's just the access to medical data that compels us, why not 
come up with other ways to get it?  If it's that crucial,  we could ask 
our members to get a simple physical, or the UA, BP readings, etc., 
that you described as adequate for assessing risk in the insurance 
business.

Or if we must get in on the profits being made by the insurance 
companies, why not argue that some cryonicist or group of 
cryonicists should start an insurance company themselves, with 
some sort of agreement beforehand that we would shuffle clients in 
their direction in return for some set donation of their profits plus 
access to any medical data obtained?

Why do we (and our already frozen patients) need to take on all of 
that risk ourselves?

Forward in all directions!

Derek Ryan
Membership Administrator
Alcor Life Extension Foundation
Ph. # 602-922-9013
Email: 

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