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Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!tsf
From: tsf+@cs.cmu.edu (Timothy Freeman)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics,news.answers,sci.answers
Subject: Cryonics FAQ 7: Cost of Cryonics
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Date: 1 Oct 1994 07:02:33 GMT
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Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions
   and their answers about cryonics, the practice of carefully preserving
   very recently clinically and legally dead people in hopes that they can be
   revived in the future.  It should be read by anyone interested in posting
   to sci.cryonics and by anyone who finds the prospect of certain death
   irritating.

Archive-name: cryonics-faq/part7

			       Cryonics
		    Frequently Asked Question List
		     Section 7: Cost of Cryonics
		Last Modified Tue Jun  1 12:42:23 1993

(You can fetch cryomsg "n" by sending mail to kqb@whscad1.att.com or
to kevin.q.brown@att.com with the subject line "CRYOMSG n".  There is
more about this in the answer to question 8-2.  The index
to this FAQ list is cryomsg "0018.1".  )

Copyright 1993 by Tim Freeman.  See the end of Section 1 for
restrictions on redistribution.

7-1.  Why does cryonics cost so much?

Alcor has available a 15-page $3.00 reprint on "The Cost of Cryonics".
Also, Appendix C of CRFT has the same title.  Here is a summary
from Page A-36 (which I rounded to the nearest 50 dollars):

                             Whole Body         Neuro
Remote Transport             $14,050.         $14,050.
Cryoprotective Perfusion     $13,400.         $11,500.
Laboratory Evaluations       $   950.         $   950.
Temperature Descent          $ 8,350.         $ 1,750.
Record Keeping               $   450.         $   400.
------------------------     --------         --------
Total                        $37,200.         $28,650.

Annual Liquid Nitrogen       $   850.         $    50.  "Bigfoot" Dewar
    Storage Costs            $ 1,700.         $   150.  Older-Style Dewars


The funds remaining after the suspension costs must be sufficient to
pay the annual liquid nitrogen costs from interest alone (which is
conservatively estimated as 2% in inflation-adjusted dollars).  The
current fees ($42,000. for neuro and $140,000. for whole-body)
approximate that well.  Bear in mind that the above costs do not
include extensive and/or remote standby, which can be quite expensive,
so everyone should arrange funding in excess of the minimums.

Other organizations have lower fees.  There have been debates about
how much money is really needed.  (Citation?) 

7-2.  Is anyone getting rich from cryonics?  What are the salaries at these
      organizations like?

In December 1990, Cryonics magazine reported that the Board of
Directors of Alcor voted a 25% pay cut for all of the staff, so they
could keep their budget balanced.  Many of the Directors are also on
the staff.  The salaries after the cut ranged from $22,500 annually
for highest paid full-time employee (the President) to $14,400 for
the lowest-paid full-time employee.  None of the Alcor staff are
getting rich from their salaries.

7-3. *How do cryonics organizations invest their money to last for the long
      term?

>>> Question sent to Alcor on Fri Jul 24 17:34:44 1992 <<<