ABOUT

Oscar® Shortlisted
Best Documentary Short Film

In the early 1990s, the AIDS epidemic was in its second decade.

Unable to work and with few months to live, many people with AIDS negotiated “viatical settlements” to live out their dying days with dignity.

These settlements were simple. People with AIDS sold their life insurance policies to investors and, in exchange, received a portion of their own death benefit upfront.

Some used the money for survival, to pay rent or buy medications. Others opted for end-of-life luxury — embarking on lavish trips, buying vacation homes, and starting businesses.

When these patients died, investors received the full value of their policies, often earning healthy profits on a quick turnaround.

From The New Yorker and Academy Award® nominated executive producer Julie Cohen, Cashing Out spotlights the morally complex stories of everyday people pursuing dignity outside the institutions that neglected them — and finding joy on the brink of death.

By examining who was and wasn’t able to access that dignity and joy, Cashing Out also connects AIDS history to timely questions around healthcare access, equity, and the social safety net.

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Meet the Participants

  • The Broker

    When his partner needed care, Scott helped broker one of the first sales of a life insurance policy by a person with AIDS. That decision led to one of the first gay-owned and operated viatical settlement companies in the U.S., a source of controversy and care.

  • The Dreamer

    A passionate grassroots advocate, Black trans woman, and long-term HIV survivor, Dee Dee navigated life through survival sex work during the height of the epidemic in Atlanta. She never had a policy to sell, and challenges the notion that this was an effective "solution" since it only benefited a select few.

  • The Seller

    An ACT UP member and the founder of POZ magazine, Sean was one of many people living with HIV who sold their policies to access money while still alive—and then outlived the doctors’ expectations. His story is one of advocacy, survival, and using the system to reclaim control.

Host a
Screening

Bring CASHING OUT to your community. Reach out to host a screening, and to exhibit a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt — a living memorial to those we’ve lost to the epidemic.