A Market Born from Desperation
Imagine it’s the early 1990s. The AIDS crisis is raging, and for many, particularly gay men, a diagnosis is a death sentence accompanied by social ostracization and financial ruin. With the government offering little more than silence and stigma, a controversial new industry emerged from the shadows of Wall Street: viatical settlements. The premise was as simple as it was grim: investors would buy the life insurance policies of terminally ill people for a lump sum of cash. The patient received money to live out their final days with some dignity, while the investor gambled on their death, collecting the full policy payout when they passed. The sooner they died, the greater the profit.
Was this a predatory industry profiting from tragedy, or a desperate act of community survival in a world that had turned its back? This is the complex question at the heart of Cashing Out, a powerful new documentary from filmmaker Matt Nadel that unpacks this forgotten chapter of our history.
A Personal and Moral Inheritance
For Nadel, the story is deeply personal. He discovered in 2020 that his own father had been an investor in the viatical industry, and that the profits from these policies—money tied to the deaths of men from his own community—had funded his education and childhood. “Frankly, when my dad told me about this, my first response was like, ‘Well, that is disgusting. That is horrible,’” Nadel explains in the source article. What began as a plan for a “dad-bashing doc” evolved as he uncovered the nuanced reality of the situation.
The film moves beyond simple condemnation to explore the paradox of a system that, while ethically questionable, provided tangible benefits. For men who had lost their jobs, homes, and health insurance, selling their life insurance was the only way to afford medication, secure housing, and find peace in their final months.
Voices from the Epicenter
Cashing Out gives the microphone to those who lived through it, presenting a multifaceted picture:
- Scott Page, who not only brokered the sale of his dying partner Greg's policy but also ran one of the settlement firms. For him, it was a way for the gay community to take care of its own when no one else would. The money allowed him and Greg to buy a house and live Greg's final years together as peacefully as possible.
- Sean O. Strub, an activist who sold his own policy. He used the funds to launch POZ Magazine, a vital publication that provided accurate information and a sense of community for people living with HIV/AIDS during an era of widespread fear and misinformation.
- DeeDee Chamblee, a Black trans woman and activist. Her story highlights the limits of this capitalist solution. Without formal employment or a life insurance policy to sell, she and many others from marginalized backgrounds were excluded from this lifeline, left to fend for themselves. Her experience underscores a painful truth: even the community's survival mechanisms had their own hierarchies of access.
A Medical Miracle and a Market Crash
The viatical settlement boom came to an abrupt halt in the late 1990s with the introduction of protease inhibitors—the cocktail of drugs that transformed HIV from a terminal illness into a manageable chronic condition. It was a miracle for patients but a disaster for investors. People who were expected to die within months began to live for years, and then decades. Investors who had bet on a quick return were suddenly stuck paying costly annual premiums on policies that might not pay out for a very long time, if ever.
Why This History Matters in the Netherlands Today
While this story is rooted in the unique landscape of the American healthcare system, its lessons are universal. It’s a stark reminder of what happens when a community is abandoned by its government during a public health crisis. It forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about the intersection of capitalism and care, and to recognize the incredible, and sometimes morally complex, ways our community has fought for survival.
For a younger generation of LGBTQ+ people, Cashing Out is more than a history lesson; it’s a testament to the resilience, ingenuity, and complicated ethics of survival that have defined our past. With executive producers like Matt Bomer (Fellow Travelers) and Angeria Paris VanMichaels (RuPaul’s Drag Race), the film is reaching a broad audience, ensuring this crucial story is not forgotten.
Cashing Out is available to watch in full on YouTube.
