So you’re interested in cryonics, but there’s just one thing getting in the way: the price. If you do enough research into human cryopreservation, you will see a few different sums flying around regarding the cost of being cryopreserved.
For you to make an informed choice, it is important that you fully understand the services offered by the various providers and the associated costs. In this article, we explain in detail what human cryopreservation consists of, and how the total cost is divided into the different steps required for a high quality procedure and indefinite storage.
Overall cryonics cost
First, the price of cryonics varies according to the type of cryopreservation (whole-body or neuro). If you choose to cryopreserve only your brain, contained in your head, the minimum price at the moment is $80,000 with Alcor. On top of that, other factors like the location of the patient, logistics, the location of the provider, maintenance fees charge, legal requirements, etc., influence the final cost. The price of an all-inclusive cryopreservation plan with Tomorrow Bio is € 200.000.
While this is a rather vast sum of money, there are ways to manage this amount - which we will cover later on.
Now, there is a reason why the price of human cryopreservation is so high. Cryonics cost covers important steps to ensure the best quality preservation possible. When choosing an all-inclusive plan like Tomorrow Bio, all aspects are considered. From the standby team (SST) available 24/7, transportation, on-site cryoprotection procedure, to long-term storage, and possible future revival, the price you pay will cover all the necessary expenses. Let's see them in detail here.
1. Standby Teams (≈ €30 - 100,000)
The price for the initial stages of cryopreservation is high, but can vary greatly depending on your situation.
SST (aka standby) teams are specialized medical professionals trained and equipped for field cryoprotection. Their instrumentation and procedures must be continuously updated. In addition, they are on-call day and night, at any time of the year. This inevitably comes with a cost.
On top of that, the €30 - 100,000 also pays for standby teams to reach you, possibly before the moment you pass away. Why is it necessary to have a SST team on site? The cryopreservation procedure must begin as close to legal death as possible. This is because as vital organs are starved of oxygen, they begin to die. Reaching a cryonics patient quickly is crucial for high quality cryopreservation. However, reaching someone quickly can be costly. This depends on where you are. It will cost a lot more money to retrieve your body from a beach in Fiji than it will from an hour from the storage facility. Having additional funds at your disposal covers any unexpected situations.
Finally, the cost covers the possibility that the team stays at the location for a period of time. For example, having a medical team on standby at the patient's location for one week will of course be more expensive than one day.
2. Transportation (≈ €30 - 80,000)
Getting the standby team to you as quickly as possible, wherever you are, will cost money. The transportation money also covers your own transportation to the long term storage facility. A huge factor that affects this cost is your location. For example, with more funds, a private jet could be used to reach you as quickly as possible, wherever you are. The alternative would be waiting for a commercial flight to fly to your location.
Having more funds available to you gives a higher chance of medical teams reaching you faster, thus improving your cryopreservation quality.
3. Long-term storage (≈ €40 - 120,000)
When you pay for cryonics, you don’t just pay to be crudely “frozen”. To avoid damage from ice crystals, patients must be vitrified before long-term storage.
After vitrification, patients need to have their temperature slowly lowered to that of liquid nitrogen (-196°C). Cryopreserved patients are stored in cryogenic storage dewars filled with liquid nitrogen. Overheads on the storage location as well as maintaining security incurs costs. Staff must be available to monitor you whilst in storage and you need to have a constant supply of liquid nitrogen. This needs to be maintained for the foreseeable future.
The price for long-term storage varies greatly due to the storage location available with your funds. The storage facility in Switzerland at the European Biostasis Foundation, our partner organization, requires €120,000 to be stored there.
How long can I be stored with these funds?
The short answer is indefinitely. This is because the funds are managed in a way to ensure that you can remain in suspension until it is possible to be revived.
Tomorrow Bio works with a non-profit partner organization called the Tomorrow Patient Foundation (TPF) to maintain your funds. 120.000€ of the funds from the term life insurance are allocated to the TPF. The TPF puts these funds into very low risk investments that have an annual yield of 1-2% above inflation. This is more than enough to pay for the running costs of keeping patients cryopreserved (e.g. liquid nitrogen refills).
Revival
Currently, it is impossible to say how much revival will cost. But, we can assume that initially it will be very expensive - as most new technologies are. But there is no rush! You can be stored indefinitely, so there is time for the cost to eventually come down. Time is on your side.
Once the technology is developed, your funds will be used to pay for the revival procedures. If any funds remain after the procedure, they will be returned to you.
How to pay for Cryopreservation
The most common way to fund cryopreservation is through a term life insurance plan. The reason cryonics organizations choose this method for funding is because it is the most economical option. Term life insurance means that you are covered for cryopreservation during the time of your plan. So if you die anytime before you age out, you will be cryopreserved.
Cryonics organizations recommend that you save simultaneously in case you age out of your policy. That way, if you outlive your coverage you’ll still be able to pay for cryopreservation. If you want to learn more, check out our article on wealth management.
Insurance won’t be all that you need to pay for. All cryonics organizations require you to pay a monthly membership fee. This fee will be used for:
- Research and development
- New upgraded equipment
- Training medical and standby teams
- Miscellaneous costs (e.g. legal costs)
Simply put, you can be completely covered for cryopreservation with affordable monthly payments. Suddenly those huge sums of money become more affordable to more people.
Cryopreservation with Tomorrow Biostasis
Tomorrow Bios is the only cryonics organization that focuses on Europe. Our plans consist of two parts: membership fee and standby and storage funding.
While the membership fee is a fixed price of €25 per month, the choice of how to finance your standby and long term storage depends on your specific needs. You have several options:
- You can take out a term life insurance plan through our insurance partner.
- You can use your own existing insurance policy.
- You can provide an alternative funding method (eg. whole life insurance or savings).
To find out more details about our plan, check out our pricing page.
Other providers
If you don’t live in Europe, there are some cryonics organizations based in the United States, China and Australia. Depending on which provider you choose, the cost of cryonics can vary. For example, at Alcor (U.S.), cryonics costs around $200,000 for whole-body cryopreservation and $80,000 for neuropreservation.
These other providers do offer life insurance options too, but are generally better suited to people living nearer their facilities. The figures usually don't include transportation for on-site field cryoprotection, or transporting your body to the facility.This means that you can either move near to their facilities around the time you die, or expect additional charges.
You can see a comparison of prices and services offered in this article.
Conclusion
Now, you realize why human cryopreservation has a relatively high price. It is a specialized medical procedure, and the timing involved often raises the total cost. Yet, we expect this to change in the future. As more people take an interest in cryonics and the subject becomes mainstream, prices will come down. We hope that, in a few years, cryopreservation will become affordable for everyone.
At Tomorrow Bio we do our best to grow the cryonics community and inform people about the possibilities of this futuristic technology, And you, would you like to join us? Click here to sign up for cryonics with us.
Need more information before taking the leap? Schedule a call with one of our medical experts.
