Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-04-24
INSURING TIE SICK.
WHAT HAS BEEN DETERMINED BY
BY VITAL STATISTICS.

Can Profit Be Made In 1nsuring Un-
healthy Lives--A Table of Comparative
ProbabIlitIes-Thsore Expectations
of the Diseased.
The practice Of the life insurance COM
panies in insuring only the best lives has
often Deen the subject of grim kind OF
humor "The people they insure" 1t Is
said ''are those who appear from medi-
cal examination to stand in no need of in
surilnce, while those who really do need
1t 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 ms 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 it. 1t Is not only un-
fortunate, but seems to be n trifte unjust;
and the question is often seriously asked
why when the insurance risks are 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
slrance companies are not doing business
on philanthropic principleS-though theii
solicitors '-ould flin persuade us To the
cOntrary-but to make money. But even
when the answer has been given the ques-
tou may still be asked whether there Is
not u profit 10 be made in insuriug inn
paired lives.
THE UNHEALTHY LIFE.
An article in The American Exchange
and Review indicates the possibility that
this question may yet be answered in the
affirmative 1t points out that while the
unhealthy life ia, as a rule. in greater
peril of death than the healthy one, the
risk in the cnse Of the former can, in all
probability, he determined with as much
accuracy and safety as IL can in the case
of the latter. This is certainly reason
able view. The number or years upon
which healthy man of 90 or 30 or 40,
or any other age, can reasonably expect
to live, has been ascertained by a careful
compilation OF vital statistics. What is
10 prevent the ascertainment. by like
careful compilation, of the age to which
an unhealthy or unsound man of 20, 30
or 40, or any other age, may expect to
live,
To certain small extent, according to
the article refe red to. this has been done
by the Institute of Actuaries in London,
England. in constructing table Of COM
parative probabilities in the cases Of
healthy and diseased lives. The figures,
though not ut all conclusive. are very in
tareSting. showing side by side the sur
vivorships at 20 80, 40, 80, 90. etc, of
10. 900 healthy and 10000 diseased lives,
starting at the age of 10. Singularly
enough, at the age of 20 the showing in
the case of the diseaied lives is the better,
9,Gf9 of them surviving against ., ,554 Of
the healthy lives. From that time for
ward. however, the figures favor the
healthy lives In a gradually increasing
ratio. At 30 the survivors in the healthy
IL. 900 are s, ,904 against S,54S in the dis
eased 10000. At 90 the healthy side
shows 5,547 survivors and the diseased
only 1872. At 96 they are nearly equal,
but the diseased lives have the advantage
bS one, showing 26 against a5 Of the
healthy lives.
THEORETICAL EXPECTATIONS.
The Exchange and Review concludes
its article with what it calls a table of
Theoretical expectations of diseased life, "
which might more appropriately he called
a hypothetical table, inasmuch as it Is not
put forward as even approximately &C
cu7ate. 1t is useful, however, in tho sug
gestiou it furnishes that a table may h
constructed sufficiently accurate for prac
teal purposes. Whether any of the eA
isting companies will take up the sugges
ton is very doubtful The best of them
are doing quite well enough on then
present basis not to be tempted to embark
in any new field, and it is earnestly to be
hopel that the worst of them, which 6rc
ROT doing well now, viii ;ot injure the
business OF insuring impaired lives BY
giving IL bad send Off.
A fortune, however, awaits the com.
pauy. old or rev, which shall, with sound
julgmest and sufficient capital, enter
upon that business. While the price to
be charged would necessarily be highe
than in the case of healthy lives, the risk,
il the business were conducted on sound
basis, would probably be no greater. The
cost would probably be less, especially in
the item OF commissions or salaries to so
licitors II anything can positively be
predicted rs to an utterly untried scheme,
il can be predicted that men Of impaired
lives would need much less soliciting to
induce them to insure than the men of
ba,lthv lives do -nar roir Rraa prpSa