院内感染で両足を失った車椅子の61歳黒人現役医師、自分の生命保険をファンドに売る 死に神ファンドは生命保険を買い付け、被保険者の死を待ち望む@アメリカ

アメリカのABCニュースで流しているショッキングな話。
　生命保険をファンドが買い取って、被保険者の早い死を待ち望む
という商売がまかり通っているという。
登場するのは
　3人の子どもを医学部に通わせている61歳のアメリカの黒人医師
だ。アメリカの教育費はバカ高いから、保険をファンドに売って、先に割引された保険金を手に入れたのだという。
　たとえ医師でも、子どもを3人も医学部に通わせるためには経済的には全然足りない
というのが分かるだけでも驚くが、学資を捻出するために
　経済的にも社会的にも比較的上層と思われている医師でも、自分の生命保険を死に神ファンドに売らないとやっていけない
ところが衝撃的だ。
で、ビデオの方を見ると、余計ビックリすると思うけど、この61歳の先生は
　院内感染で両足を失い、車椅子に乗って、医師としての仕事を続けている
のである。少なくとも日本で
　車椅子の医師
が普通に診療活動を続けているのをほとんど見たことはない。たしか、医学生の頃に車椅子になって、その後医師免許を取った先生はいらしたと思った(記憶では地域の訪問診療をされていた)が、
　医師になった後に重い障碍を負った医師が普通に診察を続けている
というのは、あまり記憶がない。アメリカでは
　職業のバリアフリー化
が進んでいるのをビジュアルに見せているという意味でも衝撃的なビデオだ。
ABCより。

The Business of Life Insurance: Betting on Your Own Mortality

Wall Street Wants to Securitize Life Insurance and Some See Another Debacle in the Offing

By BILL WEIR
Oct. 5, 2009—

After Dr. Eddie Powell lost both his legs to a hospital infection, he desperately needed financial help to support his practice and three children in medical school. So the 61-year-old did what more and more cash-strapped Baby Boomers are doing these days: He sold his life insurance. "For close to a million dollars of insurance, I got a hundred and some thousand dollars," Powell said.

Coventry, a life settlement company, took Powell's policies, bundled them with others and sold them to banks or hedge funds as investments. Since they pay the premium every month, the sooner he dies the more money they will make. And now, Wall Street wants in on the action and the life settlement industry welcomes the potential spike in business.

"The 'ick' factor is there and we're certainly aware of it," said Russell Dorsett, president of the Life Insurance Settlement Association. "The secondary market simply lets individuals bet on their own mortality. So, say that I am going to live longer than you think I am. I will take the money now rather than having to wait to die in order to get it. It's no different than the life insurance business itself. Basically mortality, morbidity is a multitrillion dollar market."

For critics, the move to securitize the life insurance industry harkens back to the early days of the subprime mortgage boom. That crisis began when banks gave loans to people who couldn't afford them, but it got much worse when Wall Street used exotic forms of investments (called collateralized debt obligations) to bet that those loans would go bad.

With Wall Street's trillions in play, banks had more incentive to issue more subprime loans. When those loans went bad, the investors got rich but the housing market -- and the entire economy -- nearly collapsed.

If Wall Street is allowed to bet on the early death of seniors or the terminally ill, some worry it could not only strain the insurance industry, but also create a market for shady brokers to prey on the sick and elderly while adversely affecting the health policy of the nation.

"People who have bets on early death will find themselves lobbying against effective health care," said Michael Greenberger, a University of Maryland law professor and former director with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "There's no two ways about it, this is an accident waiting to happen in terms of investment&. It's setting up the same wild financial infrastructure that turns out to be nothing more than a casino, unrelated to the underlying transaction."

While a life settlement spokesman acknowledges that around $40 billion worth of policies have been sold in the past five years, he says that number is a small percentage of the multi-trillion dollar industry and could never pose a risk to the system. "We estimate that maybe 1 or 2 percent of policies might qualify for a life settlement at some point," said Dorsett. "While that number will grow due to demographics it's still relatively small compared to the economy as a whole."

As for Dr. Powell, he says he regrets his decision to sell his life insurance for pennies on the dollar. "I made a stupid mistake," he said. Every few months, a representative from Coventry calls to see if he is still breathing. He plans to keep answering for a long time. "My grandma lived to be 115...you've got a long time before Eddie Powell dies," he said.

But if Coventry gets its way, there will soon be plenty of investors on Wall Street hoping, and betting, he is wrong.

今後、ファンドとしては
　買い取った保険の保険金を払い続ければ続けるほど、商売の旨味が減る
わけだから
　買い取った保険の元の被保険者が死ぬのが早ければ早いほど、儲けが上がる
という勘定になる。まさに
　死に神ファンド
ということになる。

で、問題は
　この「生命保険買い取りビジネス」が「サブプライムローン」の次の「金儲けの手段」
として、注目されているという点で、今後
　支払い能力が低く、手っ取り早くまとまった金額を手に入れたい貧困層
を対象に
　この手の「保険買い取りを目的とした生命保険加入促進ビジネス」が跋扈する恐れ
があるということなのだ。早い話が
　保険金詐欺ではないが、それに近い商売をファンドがやる
ってことで
　サブプライムローンで身ぐるみ剥がした後は、「生命保険買い取り」で命を買い取る
という
　死に神ファンド
が、今後金融界で伸してくるって恐れがありありである。すでに
　金さえ手に入れば、道義的責任なんてどうでもいい段階
に来ているって話。当然ながら
　保険をファンドに売り払った後は、「十分な治療を施さないようにして、早い死を促進する」
ことが、死に神ファンドが利益を獲得するキーポイントになる。