Death insurance

"New Exotic Investments Emerging on Wall Street"-
While the battle wages around the country on health care reform, and allegations are raised that the President is looking to 'off' grandma, Wall Street is now hoping and gambling on grandma dying sooner. It sickens me that we are seriously discussing an industry whose main goal is to assure the earliest possible death of the insured.

What message are we sending out when the major fear of investors into the securitized pool of life insurance policies is that there will be medical advances made so that the life of those they are betting on dying, outlives their formulas and charts.?

No generosity of human spirit is the catalyst for this business. If it were so, then perhaps there could be other avenues undertaken, such as loans given to the owner of the policy that would be paid back to the lender (with generous interest or other inducement) from the proceeds of the policy at death. Rather, for those who need an infusion of quick capital, a lifetime of payments to try to protect family in the future, is irretrievably lost.

If this industry becomes as large as predicted, then there will be those involved who want to slow down or terminate completely programs that might be aimed at prolonging life, thus cutting into profits. There may well be 'death lobbyists' whose sole mission is to make sure cures for certain diseases are delayed or papered into submission.

There are those who are willing to package and bundle anything and everything as long as the result is pyramiding profits. It seems perverse that death has now become a commodity that can be bought and sold for gain. It is not an image that should make us proud.