Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-04-07
INSURING THE SICK.
WHAT HAS BEEN DETERMINED By
BY VITAL STATISTICS.

Can q PROFIT Ne Made In lnsuring Us-
healthy Lives--A Table OF Comparative
babIlities--Theoreticsi Expectations
of the Diseased.
The practice Of the life insurance COM
panies In insuring only the hest lives has
often been the subject Of grim kind OF
humor. "Thc people they insure" II Re
said, "are those who appear from q medi-
cal examination to stand in no need Of in
surance, while those who really do need
It cannot get it." This Is not altogether
true, OF course. A good many Of the
people who can successfully pass the medi-
cal examiners Of the insurance companies
stand quite as much In need Of insurance
as those who cannot pass, but It is Ger
tainly unfortunate that the latter, who
certainly do stand in need OF insurance,
are unable to get II. 1t Is not only I'M
fortunate, but seems to be triflc unjust;
and the question Is often seriously asked
why, when the insurance risks arc based
on general mortality and not on the NOR
tality among selected lives, the insurance
companies should decline risks upon any
lives but the selected' "
The answer Is, probably, that the In
surance companies are not doing business
on philanthropic principles--though their
solicitors would fain persuade us to the
contrary--but to make money. But even
when the answer has been given the ques-
ton may still be asked whether there Is
not a profit to be made in insuring Inn
paired lives.
THE UNHEALTHY LIFE.
An article in The American Exchange
md Review indicates the possibility that
this question may yet be answered in the
affirmative. 1t points out that while the
unhealthy life is, as a rule, in greater
peril Of death than the healthy one, the
risk in the case Of the former can, in all
probability, be determined with as much
accuracy and safety as 1t can in the case
OF the latter. This is certainly reason
able view. The number Of years upon
which healthy man Of 20, or 30 or 40,
or any other age, can reasonably expect
to live, has been ascertaiued by careful
compilation OF vital statistics. What Is
to prevent the ascertainment, by q like
careful compilation, of the age 10 which
an unhealthy or unsound man of 20, 81
or 40, or any other age, may expect to
live,
To q certain small extent, according tc
the article referred to, this has been done
by the Institute Of Actuaries in London,
England, in constructing table OF com.
parativs probabilities IN the cases ol
healthy and diseased lives. The figures,
though not at all conclusive. are very in.
teresting showing side by side the sur
vivorships at 20, 80, 40, so, 90, ETC., ot
10000 healthy and 10000 diseased lives,
starting ut the age Of 10. Singularly
enough, at the age OF 90 the showing In
the case OF the diseased lives Is the better
0,G70 of them surviving against 1854 Of
the healthy lives. From that time for.
ward, however, the figures favor the
healthy lives in gradually increasing
ratio At 30 the survivors In the healthy
10000 are S,904 against 8,548 In the dis
cased 10000 At 90 the healthy sidt
shows 5,547 survivors and the diseased
only 1882. At 06 they are nearly equal
but the diseased lives have the advantage
by one, showing 90 against 25 Of tht
healthy lives.
THEORETICAL EXPECTATIONS.
The Exchange and Review conclude,
its article with what it calls table o
"theoretical expectations of diseased life, ;
which might more appropriately be callet
hypothetical table, inasmuch as 1t Is no
put forward az even approximately nc
| curate. 1t is useful, however, In the sug
Il
| constructed sufficiently accurate for prac
tical purposes. Whether any Of the ex
isting companies will take up the sugges
ton is very doubtful. The best Of then
are doing quite well enough on thei
| present basis not to be tempted to embarl
In any new field, and IL is earnestly to b.
hoped that the worst Of them, which ar
not doing well now, will not injure tn
business of msuring impaired lives b,
giving it bad send Off.
A fortune, however, awaits the com
pany, old or new, which shall, with SCUM
judgment and sufficient capital ente
upon that business. While the price +
be charged would necessarily be highe
than in the case Of healthy lives, the risk
if the business were conducted on a SCUM
basis, would probably be no greater. Tn
cost would probably be less, especially fl
the item of commissions or salaries to so
licitors. If anything can positively b
predicted as to an utterly untried scheme
it can be predicted that men of impaire,
lives would need much less soliciting t.
induce them to insure than the men O
healthy lives do.-Detroit Free Press.