#viatical-settlements

#viatical-settlements

During the summer of 2020, at the onset of the Covid pandemic, the documentary director Matt Nadel was back home in Boca Raton, Florida. He remembers one particular evening walk that he took with his father, Phil, as they weathered out those early months. As they strode through the neighborhood, Nadel, now 26, said that the prospect of a vaccine was exciting, but the idea of pharmaceutical executives profiting off a devastating virus left him feeling uneasy.

Cashing Out sees Nadel interview four people who were in some way involved with the industry during the AIDS crisis: his father Phil, who bought into the industry in the early '90s; Scott Page, who brokered the sale of his partner Greg's life insurance policy so Greg could live out the rest of his life securely; Sean O. Strub, who sold his policy and set up HIV/AIDS magazine POZ; and DeeDee Chamblee, a Black trans woman who had no life insurance policy to sell, and was forced to protect herself and her community through other means.