As of June 2009, The Economist magazine estimates that the U.S. market for selling life insurance policies to third-parties for cash has grown to US$19 billion.
Selling life insurance policies to third parties while the covered person is alive falls into two categories.
Life settlements are when policyholders sell their life insurance for less than the policy face value but more than the cash value that the insurance company would pay. A viatical settlement is a life settlement when the life insured has a chronic or terminal illness like final-stage lung cancer.