For definitions of capitalized terms in this text, please see the documents titled "Individual Agreement Regarding Standby-Transport for a Cryonics Institute Member by Suspended Animation" or "Cryopreservation Agreement between the Cryonics Institute and Suspended Animation."
Imagine a team of four paramedics who will fly anywhere in North America at a moment's notice, with approximately 700 lbs of equipment and supplies, and will remain in a remote location for days at a time before performing complex and demanding medical procedures under extreme time pressure.
The is the magnitude of the task facing SA Team Members during standby work. Clearly this enterprise is ambitious and expensive. Since the deployment of equipment and personnel entails such a high cost and significant effort, we wish to reserve standby procedures for genuinely needy cases. This entails some potentially difficult decisions. Who should have the authority to call a standby? If the patient's condition improves, who should have the right to abort the standby? If a patient's recovery is brief, and the standby resumes, is the second standby a continuation of the first, or should it be billed separately?
SA offers a choice of payment options which enable us to provide service economically, reliably, flexibly, and fairly. The options entail patient assessments that will be made by at least two qualified medical professionals, whose judgment will determine a patient's imminent risk of mortality.
This plan is intended for those who prefer minimum prepayment and maximum control of coverage. This plan allows the SA-Affiliated CI Member to request, receive, and continue Standby procedures while experiencing any risk greater than negligible. (The other plans pay for Standby procedures only while risk is assessed as Serious.) Under the Prepaid Incremental Standby Plan, the following fees apply:
Continuation Fees must be paid in advance of the days to which they apply. Fees may be paid by wire transfer, certified check, money order, cash, or other methods (including credit cards) at the discretion of SA. In the event that some prepaid Continuation Fees remain unused (i.e. if a Standby ends for any reason before it was expected to end) SA shall refund the balance to the Standby-Transport Recipient or, if the Standby-Transport Recipient is no longer alive, shall apply the balance to Transport Fees; and if some unused balance still remains, SA shall transmit this balance to the Cryonics Institute.
Under the Prepaid Incremental Standby Plan, if SA exhausts the prepaid Continuation Fees and is unable to secure additional funding, the Standby may be Abandoned. However, so long as Continuation Fees are paid and the assessed risk is greater than Negligible, SA will recognize the right of the patient to receive attention in exchange for payment.
This plan is intended for those who wish to make a single prepayment which will be sufficient to cover up to two initial deployments and subsequent Standby procedures that may be of unlimited length so long as the Standby-Transport Recipient’s risk is assessed as Serious. If the Standby-Transport Recipient’s condition improves and the risk diminishes, the Standby will be Abandoned unless the Standby-Transport Recipient or Surrogate is willing to pay additional Continuation Fees under the same terms as described in the Prepaid Incremental Standby Plan, above.
If an SA-Affiliated CI Member ceases to receive SA coverage, the Flat-Rate Fee will be refunded in full unless some Standby procedures have been performed, in which case a refund will be made on a pro-rata basis at the discretion of SA. No refund will be allowed in any case that has terminated in legal death.
Flat-Rate Fee for up to two deployments, and subsequent unlimited days of Standby procedures so long as the risk is assessed as Serious: $25,000.
Continuation Fee if the Standby-Transport Recipient requests extension of a Standby after risk has diminished from Serious to Low: $2,500.
This plan is intended for those who wish to receive coverage similar to the Prepaid Flat-Rate Standby Plan, above, but prefer not to make a prepayment and can substitute an additional amount of life insurance referred to below as Standby Insurance.
The SA-Affiliated CI Member must obtain Standby Insurance acceptable to SA, naming SA as beneficiary. Standby Insurance is sufficient to cover up to two initial deployments and subsequent Standby procedures that may be of unlimited length so long as the Standby-Transport Recipient’s risk is assessed as Serious. If the patient's condition improves and the risk diminishes, the Standby will be Abandoned unless the Standby Candidate or Surrogate is willing to pay additional Continuation Fees under the same terms as described in the Prepaid Incremental Standby Plan, above.
If Standby Insurance is allowed to lapse or the beneficiary is reassigned while the SA-Affiliated CI Member is still alive, the member becomes liable to pay for any Standby services that have been provided prior to this time, under this plan.
Standby Insurance face value covering up to two deployments and subsequent unlimited days of Standby procedures so long as the risk is assessed as Serious: $30,000.
(Note: This figure cannot be guaranteed for the indefinite future. Clients are advised to obtain additional insurance, if possible, to protect themselves against the possibility of future increases due to inflation or the availability of new, more sophisticated procedures which may be offered as an extra-cost option.)
Continuation Fee if the Standby-Transport Recipient requests extension of a Standby after risk has diminished from Serious to Low: $2,500.
The fee for completing a Standby-Transport after legal death of the Standby-Transport Recipient is paid by the Cryonics Institute from insurance or other funding preallocated to CI for SA by the SA-Affiliated CI Member in the document titled "Suspended Animation Local Help Rider." This fee covers procedures described in the Protocol "Section II: Postmortem," subsequent replenishment of consumable standby supplies, sterilization and refurbishment of equipment, and air transportation of the Standby-Transport Recipient to Michigan.
Cryoprotection shall be achieved by CI's proprietary vitrification solution.
Transport Fee: $30,000
Additional fee for air ambulance: $15,000
Fees are determined by the region in which the SA-Affiliated CI Member is located when the standby occurs, not by the region in which the member resides.
Additional financing may be required for CI members located in Canada, and will vary depending on the province and other factors to be established individually.
Fees in the SA-CI Fee Schedule are subject to periodic review and adjustment. There will be no fee increase until the year 2010 (at the earliest), and the fee increase will not be more than 10 percent in 2010 or 10 percent per year thereafter. Additional procedures not currently described in the Protocol may be offered by SA as extra-cost options as they become available. Such procedures may include liquid ventilation, new medications, and enhanced cryoprotection.
This Fee Schedule is only implemented subject to the terms set forth in the document titled "Individual Agreement Regarding Standby-Transport for a Cryonics Institute Member by Suspended Animation."