How much would you pay to come back from the dead? The starting price is 60k – The Telegraph

Where are cryonics patients stored?

If you ever flown to America, you may unknowingly have made a journey with a cryonics patient in the hold. Cryonics is a transcontinental process.

There are three major storage providers in the world that take international patients. Kriorus, a storage facility in Russia that currently has 81 human patients and 47 cryopreserved pets, only accepts upfront payments.

Alcor, in Scottsdale, Arizona, will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in February. It is home to 186 cryonically preserved bodies and heads, three of whom are Britons, and has a membership of 1,379.

The Cryonics Institute in Michigan has 207 human patients and 202 pets, plus 320 DNA and tissue samples from people waiting for cloning technology to improve. After Americans, Britons are the institutes second largest customer base, accounting for 121 of its 1,805 members.

Both American institutions have a more favourable system of accepting life insurance payments, which means these are the typical point of call for hopeful Britons.

Patients are sealed in a two-metre-long metal box for the journey, which is surrounded by dry ice and contained within an insulated outer box. Cryonics UK avoids flying patients out on Fridays, as customs can be slower on weekends.

People say this is for rich people and it just isnt. We have people who have no money and instead of buying fags and beer they buy life insurance, said Mr Gibson.

The entry level for cryopreservation is the Cryonics Institutes lifetime membership package. This has a one-off $1,250 (924) upfront charge (paid when alive), and costs a further $28,000 through an insurance plan. Add on 30,000 for Cryonics UKs perfusion service, and the total cost is about 50,000.

However, inflation and currency fluctuations meant customers needed to insure themselves for more, said Mr Morgan. Life insurance plans of between 60,000 and 200,000 are typically required. I have people below the age of 40 who are paying premiums of 30 to 40 per month, while other clients are paying several hundreds, he added.

Alcor also offers a system whereby members can fund half of the cost using the value of their home or a retirement fund.

Alcors prices are higher, but they include having a medical team on standby and the perfusion process. It charges a monthly membership fee of $55 and neuro cryopreservation (just the head) cost a minimum $80,000. Whole body preservation starts at $200,000.

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How much would you pay to come back from the dead? The starting price is 60k - The Telegraph