"If filmmaker Matt Nadel is being honest, when he first set out to make a film about the viatical settlement industry, he had planned for it to be a "dad-bashing doc," he says with a tentative laugh. In 2020, he had discovered that his father Phil had once bought into the industry which, during the early 1990s at the peak of the AIDS crisis, profited by purchasing the life insurance policies of people with the illness in exchange for a portion of the payout up front."
"Life insurance policies had been deemed purchasable assets since a 1911 Supreme Court case ruled them so, but it wasn't until the AIDS epidemic - when cash-strapped gay men were facing terminal illness - that they became popularised. Essentially, investors were betting on death: how likely would the person be to die soon, and how much would investors have to offer upfront relative to how much they would gain when the victim passed? For the AIDS patients themselves, considering they were devoid of governmental support, selling their policies allowed them to live out their remaining days as they wished. Nadel describes the industry as "a very American paradox... the paradox of capitalism," whereby some were afforded comfort and security at their darkest moments, while "other people [could] be priced out of their own lives or their own dignity"."
"Frankly, when my dad told me about this, my first response was like, 'Well, that is disgusting. That is horrible,' he says. Money taken from the life insurance policies of AIDS victims had funded his education, his holidays, his childhood happiness. "I really felt a sense of like, I need to know what's going on here. This is my financial inheritance, but it's also my moral inheritance.""
Filmmaker Matt Nadel discovered in 2020 that his father had invested in the viatical settlement industry. The industry purchased life insurance policies from people with AIDS during the early 1990s, offering upfront cash in exchange for future payouts. Investors assessed life expectancy and profited by betting on imminent death. Many AIDS patients, lacking government support, sold policies to obtain immediate funds and maintain dignity in their remaining time. The practice created stark moral contradictions: some people and families gained comfort and security, while others were effectively priced out of their own financial control and dignity. Personal and familial financial benefits produced deep moral unease.
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