Viatical Settlement

See: Viatication.

Terminal illnesses...suck. They can also be very expensive to treat. But folks who’ve been diagnosed with a terminal illness and also have a life insurance policy do have an option to get their hands on some cash.

A “viatical settlement” is basically where the terminally ill life insurance policyholder sells the policy to a third party. They won’t get the full amount of the policy, but they can get a good chunk of it.

We should point out that the third party can’t just be any old rando off the street. They have to be a state-licensed firm that handles this sort of thing. The firm purchases the policy and continues to pay the premiums on it. Once the original policyholder passes away, they collect the benefit. In return, they pay the policyholder one lump sum that he or she can access immediately.

Of course, the longer the person lives, the less money the firm eventually gets, but if ever there was a good reason to make a smaller profit on a business transaction, we feel like this is one.