Released: October 09, 2009

Legislation targets those who bet on death

Source: Marc Lifsher, LA Times (Free Registration)

New efforts are underway in Sacramento to regulate how investors buy and sell existing life insurance policies, a practice that critics contend allows speculators to make money by wagering on when a person will die.

Currently, an estimated $27 trillion worth of life insurance is in force, most of it to provide financial security for survivors. But in recent years, older Americans have increasingly been selling their policies for cash to investors who see an opportunity for profit as they take over the premium payments and then collect proceeds when people die.

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