> Becoming A Member: the FAQ

(If you have not already done so, you may first want to read the cryonics introduction and cryonics FAQ which are on this website.)

Q: How do I join the Cryonics Institute?

A: Just fill out the membership form. You can get it either by emailing us and having us send you a copy, or you can download or print out the Membership form right here on our web site: just click here. You'll have to decide which type of membership you want first, however. We now offer two sorts.

Originally we offered only one sort of membership option: what we now call a Lifetime Membership. As a Lifetime Member, you pay a one-time non-refundable $1,250, and you become a member for life — you don't have to worry about your membership ever lapsing, and you don't have to pay any annual dues at all, ever.

Now we also offer Yearly Membership. To become a Yearly Member, you pay a $75 initiation fee plus annual dues of $120 (which you can pay all at once, or quarterly at $35 per quarter). If an Yearly Member decides to covert to a Lifetime Membership, all Yearly Membership payments paid in the year prior to the conversion date can be counted toward the one-time Lifetime Membership fee of $1,250.00. This means that the $75.00 initiation fee can only be applied to the Lifetime Membership fee during the first year of Option Two Membership.

Once we receive the first dues payment and the completed Membership application form, your membership is in full force and you have the right to arrange a Cryonic Suspension Agreement or cryopreserve a pet or cryopreserve tissue (DNA). With the information from the Membership application form we create personalized contracts for you for the specific cryopreservation services you require.

So your first step is to pay your Membership fee and send us the completed application. We will then create your personalized forms, based on whether you are a Lifetime Member or Yearly Member, what country you live in, what kind of cryopreservation services you want, etc.

Q: Can't I just print the contracts off your website for completion?

A: The contracts and paperwork on the CI website are for informational purposes. It is much better for you to complete the personalized forms that we send to you, which will be exactly the forms which match your type of membership, location and circumstance. These forms will contain your printed name, address and other relevant information, and will include aids to direct you to better complete what you need to complete as well as not complete what should be left blank. The only form which you should print and complete from the Cryonics Institute website is the Membership Application (click to see web page).

Q: What contracts do I need to sign to be cryopreserved at the Cryonics Institute?

A: A complete guide to all of the contracts which you must (or may want to) sign to be cryopreserved at the Cryonics Institute can be found at: Guide to the Human Cryopreservation Contracts (click to see web page).

Q: How much does the cryopreservation (cryonic suspension) itself cost? Is that separate from the Membership fee?

A: Yes, it is separate. With a Lifetime CI Membership the cost of cryopreservation is the most affordable price available anywhere — $28,000. The cost of cryopreservation under the Yearly Membership is higher: $35,000. And for members not living in the Detroit, Michigan area there are additional local and transportation costs.

Q: "Additional costs"? How much?

A: A few thousand dollars usually, but it varies depending on the distance from Michigan. Such additional costs would include air flight tickets to pay for shipping the patient to the Cryonics Institute patient facilities in Michigan. You will have to pay a funeral director to prepare the patient for shipping, prepare the legal documents and to convey the patient to the airline if you don't live in Michigan.

Obviously the cost will be somewhat more the farther away you are: a jet flight to Michigan from Tokyo will cost more than a drive from Detroit. (We should note that none of any such additional fees go to CI.) There is also additional cost for those who want additional service, namely Standby and Transport by cryonics employees. The cryonics organization Suspended Animation will attempt to "stand by the bedside" of a terminal cryonics patient and apply immediate cooldown and cardiopulmonary support upon pronouncement of death, and continue to provide such support during transport to the Cryonics Institute. Those who want this additional service must pay additional cost.

Q: How are the additional costs paid?

A: The additional costs are called Local Help. Local Help means preparation and shipping costs by a funeral director who is local to the area where the Member lives. These costs can be paid directly in cash by the family or can be included in the insurance funding for Members who use a Local Help Rider. There is an Lifetime Member Local Help Rider and an Yearly Member Local Help Rider. The amount of money required for Local Help could be under $2,000 for someone in a State close to Michican, could be $3,000 to $4,000 in California and could be well over $10,000 for someone living overseas.

The additional costs of Standby and Transport (for those who what these services) can be paid for by the same kind of funding options that are used to pay for the main cryopreservation fees — by insurance, by prepayment, etc. Local Help is provided by the cryonics organization Suspended Animation via the Suspended Animation Local Help Rider. Details on these costs and arrangements can be found on the CI website: Suspended Animation Standby for CI Members.

Most CI Members pay for their cryopreservation arrangements by buying a life insurance policy that names the Cryonics Institute (and Suspended Animation, Inc., if relevant) as the beneficiary (beneficiaries) of the life insurance policy. Life insurance has the benefits that it avoids probate and offers protection until other means of funding can be arranged. For life insurance agents familiar with selling insurance for cryonics purposes, see the Insurance/Investments page. For information about all forms of funding human cryopreservation, see Funding Human Cryopreservation with the Cryonics Institute.

Q: What if I live in a country where no one has been cryonically preserved before?

A: The objectives remain the same in any country: to find a funeral director who has familiarity with shipping human remains overseas — a funeral director who is willing to take a cryonics patient and who is willing to ship that patient in ice. Prior experience with a cryonics patient can be helpful, but is not required. In our experience suitable funeral directors can be found without too much difficulty in almost any country. We can help you find one, if necessary.

Q: Can I become a Yearly Member now and switch to Lifetime Membership later?

A: Yes. You can switch to a Lifetime Membership at any time. If you join as a student, say, and want to pay an affordable low fee till you graduate and then save up and pay $1,250 — well, you can. Once you do, the price of your cryopreservation drops down to $28,000. Some people think that the Lifetime Membership fee is too much of a commitment to make at first. So they "test drive" with an Yearly Membership, switching to Lifetime Membership when they feel ready.

Q: Can I apply all of the Yearly Membership dues payments I have made to my Lifetime Membership?

A: Not if you have been a Yearly Member for many years. But you can apply any Yearly Membership dues payments that you have within the most recent year in converting to Lifetime Membership. In the first year, this will include the Initiation Fee, so your greatest savings happens if you convert from Yearly Membership to Lifetime Membership in the year that you join.

Q: Can I get a Lifetime Membership by paying in installments?

A: Not to CI. But if you charge your Membership to a credit card (VISA, MasterCard or American Express) you can make payments to your credit card service company in installments.

Q: If I become a Yearly Member and cryopreserve a pet or some DNA/tissue, will my pet or the DNA continue to be cryopreserved if I let my Yearly Membership Dues lapse?

A: Your pet or DNA sample will be maintained in perpetuity. There are no "pay-as-you-go" cryopreservation plans with the Cryonics Institute. You must have paid the Yearly Membership Initiation Fee and a full year's Yearly Membership Dues to cryopreserve a pet or tissue/DNA, but if you discontinue paying your dues, the costs of the cryopreservations have still been paid in full. See Pet Cryopreservation and DNA/tissue Storage for more details on these services.

Q: If I become a member, even a Lifetime Member, but I change my mind later on, I can quit whenever I want. Right?

A: Of course. We do ask one thing, though. If you ever do decide to leave, please — tell us why. The Cryonics Institute is determined to do the best job possible for our members, and to do that we need feedback from people — especially dissatisfied people.

Q: I am interested in what you're doing — but I'm not really sure about actually undergoing cryostasis myself.

A: Becoming a member of CI doesn't mean you have to undergo cryopreseration tomorrow — or ever. We have members who, for reasons of their own, don't intend to be cryopreserved, but who nonetheless are aware of the tremendous possibilities that cryonics has for extending human life and reducing human suffering, and some who are just simply fascinated by the science behind it. And they support it, and us, by becoming members.

Q: Why does just cryopreserving a person cost so much?

A: Cryonics doesn't consist of simply storing people, but of preparing them in a way so to minimize or eliminate freezing damage. First, the money goes towards giving you and patients like you proper initial preparation. Although several nanotechnology specialists argue that even "crude" freezing can successfully preserve brain tissue, common sense suggests that the less damage done by cryopreservation, the easier it will be to repair later on.

To that end a patient is prepared with anticoagulant, cooled as rapidly as possible, and is taken to facilities where a full perfusion can be performed ("perfusion" being the process of removing the patient's blood and replacing it with a cryoprotectant (anti-freeze) solution which keeps the body from being excessively damaged by ice formation during the course of cryopreservation).

Then the patient is gradually cooled in a cooling box, and finally placed in liquid nitrogen immersion at a temperature at which further deterioration is negligible. (For more details on our procedures, see Outline of CI Cryopreservation Procedures)

On top of that, we have to have enough money to keep the patient supplied with liquid nitrogen and maintained in it for the foreseeable future.

Fortunately such maintenance isn't very complicated technically, or even terribly expensive. Far from it. It simply involves placing and keeping the patient in a container filled with liquid nitrogen. But even that requires a steady amount of money coming in, and coming in indefinitely.

We make sure that it does, by investing the major amount of the fee: the return on those investments keeps the patients supplied, and also covers the cost of personnel and overhead.

Q: How can most people afford $28,000 or $35,000 plus several thousand dollars more for funeral director expenses and shipping?

A: They buy a life insurance policy. You simply go to an insurance agent and tell him that you want a policy that, upon your "death", will pay the Cryonics Institute either $28,000 (Lifetime Member) or $35,000 (Yearly Member).

In most cases the insurance to cover your cryopreservation fee is very affordable. A nonsmoker in their 30s or 40s can typically get a $100,000 life insurance policy for around $100 to $300 per year. Getting a much larger policy than you need is a good idea if you can afford it. It is additional "insurance" against future eventualities, such as additional services that may be offered at additional prices or if you decide to switch cryonics organizations. The future is unpredictable, and ample insurance is a good way to prepare for the unpredictable. Insurance companies typically don't offer policies in amounts less than $50,000 or $100,000.

Funding cryonics through an insurance policy has an additional benefit: it avoids probate. Even if you are very wealthy, the fact that an insurance policy pays immediately to the beneficiary without any probate delay or evaluation of your will and debts makes it a very advantageous way to fund cryonics.

If you can get an insurance policy for a larger amount (say $100,000) you can leave a portion (say 50%) to CI and the rest (say 50%) to a loved-one. Leaving extra insurance money to CI is an inexpensive way to be a benefactor of your cryonics organization. The more money CI has, the more secure you will be. In the future if you decide you want more or different cryonics coverage, you can change the percentages on your insurance policy just by calling your insurance agent, and informing the Cryonics Institute of the change.

The $28,000 (Lifetime Member) or $35,000 (Yearly Member) cryopreservation fees do not include Standby, meaning a team of cryonics employees standing by the bedside of a dying cryonicist so as to render immediate cooldown and cardiopulmonary support to minimize tissue injury when the heart stops. Standby is available for Cryonics Institute Members through insurance at extra cost from the Florida company Suspended Animation, which includes all "Local Help" costs. A $100,000 life insurance policy can pay for all the costs of the Cryonics Institute and of Suspended Animation to provide Standby, Transport, Perfusion and long-term storage — the complete package.

But if you are wealthy — or have the cash at hand — you also have the option of pre-paying the money to CI. Money that is prepaid to the Cryonics Institute is held in a special savings (not checking) account which requires the signature of two Officer-Directors for withdrawal. The prepaid money is invested in T-Bills through a Treasury Direct account connected to the savings account. Although those who prepay do no receive interest from their prepaid funds, they do have the assurance that there will be no delays or questions associated with funding if the time comes when rapid cryonics rescue is required. The Cryonics Institute will refund any prepaid money to the CI Member within 30 days of the request for the refund.

For more about funding see: Establishing Funding (click to see web page).

Q: Can I wait until I am terminally ill before joining CI or making CI the beneficiary of my life insurance policy?

A: People who attempt wait until they are terminally ill before making cryonics arrangements in an attempt to save on Membership dues or who procrastinate changing insurance beneficiary most often don't get cryopreserved. They are often too ill to deal with complicated paperwork and they often do not have the time required to arrange a beneficiary (insurance companies move very slowly on these types of changes). You cannot buy a new life insurance policy if you are known to be terminally ill.

Q: What if I can't get life insurance? What if I'm sick or elderly?

A: Even if you're old or so ill that life insurance isn't obtainable, there still may be ways to fund a contract. Trusts, real estate, equity in your home — there are a number of ways to fund a contract.

If you have any sort of property that can be converted in some way to cover our fee, we may very well be able to make some sort of arrangement. Call us and talk to us: we may be able to work something out. And we will surely try.

Q: What if I want to cryopreserve my loved-one (who has given permission)? Can I pay through installments?

A: No. No cryonics organization will take the risk. You may die, you may get sick, you may become disabled, you may lose your income — or you may lose interest (it happens). Cryonics organizations cannot risk the lives of their patients by adopting financially risky means of funding. Additionally, to remove someone from cryopreservation is like murder to a cryonicist. We don't want to be put in a position of having to do that.

Q: But what if I don't have anything? What if there's no way I can afford to pay for cryopreservation?

A: Please try to understand. The Cryonics Institute has done a great deal to keep prices affordable. Cryonics would not even exist without the work and lifelong efforts of our Officers and staff. We hope to see a day when cryopreservation is available to anyone who wants it.

But — right now — that's not case. Right now we have patients in cryostasis that we have to care for, and that takes money. We can't pay for the things that will keep them alive if someone doesn't pay us. If we tried, we'd fail — and we'd lose everyone.

Only once in the history of cryonics, nearly thirty-five years ago, has there ever been a case of a cryonics organization failing. But it did fail, and because it did, over a dozen people in suspension were thawed, and died, irrevocably. That happened because the providers took on charity cases, and cases in which family members said they would pay for costs of maintaining a patient on a year-by-year basis — and then changed their minds, and didn't. The result was that the organization had to pay money out, and had no money coming in. After a while it just couldn't pay its bills. And so it was shut down. Destroying everyone.

That tragedy affected every subsequent cryonics organization, and forced them all to make absolutely certain each became financially stable and fiscally sound. And in fact not one provider since then has ever closed its doors and lost its patients.

There aren't many businesses that can claim no business failures whatsoever in its entire field for a solid quarter of a century. But cryonics can.

What's particularly cruel is that precisely those people most in need of cryonics services — the ill, the elderly, the dying — are also those least likely to get life insurance, and most likely to have their property and life savings drained away by common and ultimately futile medical procedures.

We at the Cryonics Institute have done everything possible to get the best of both worlds — to make our organization financially rock-solid, and to make prices as low as we can possibly offer.

But we simply can't offer those services for nothing.

Q: Why can't I simply wait until I am near death to become a Member?

A: You need to prepare. The very worst thing we see, time and again, is the spectacle of people who were interested in joining, or thinking about joining, or leaning towards joining, but who put it off till it was too late. Then their wife or mother or child are dying, or they've had an accident and it looks as though they're not going to make it, and they call us at the last minute to try to arrange a cryopreservation.

And much as we want to — we can't help. Because we don't know a thing about the person on the other end of the line. It could be someone making a prank call. It's happened. The caller could claim to be able to pay, and not be able to, and leave us — and our patients and members — stuck.

But worst of all, if we walk in sight unseen, we could be laying our organization in for untold legal problems. What if someone calls us in to cryopreserve his wife, and it turns out they're not married but only living together, and her parents are violently opposed to cryonics? We could easily be sued. And that could threaten all our patients and all out members. We can't and won't take that chance.

If someone calls in an emergency situation and is not a member, sometimes we are able to help, but more often we cannot. On our home page, near the top, there's a link to instructions for emergency situations. But, to be prepared in advance of an emergency is, obviously, very much to be preferred.

Remember: becoming a member doesn't force you to be cryopreserved, it only allows you to make arrangements with us to do so, if you want. Membership has its own rewards — informational, social, and charitable.

You can change your mind about being a Member and quit anytime you please.

[ Questions continued: BECOMING A MEMBER FAQ (Continued)]