Permanent Total Disability from Accidental Causes [Discussion]

In view of the usual practice of valuing annuities upon lives totally and permanently disabled by accident upon the same mortality table as is used for active lives, the subject of Mr. Wilson's paper is of more than theoretical importance. Although we have good reason to believe that the mortality upon disabled lives gradually approaches the mortality among the general population as the time elapsed since the accident increases, there is nevertheless little doubt that the use of an active life table for valuation purposes and in connection with ratemaking procedure is unnecessarily conservative. While Mr. Wilson has much to say about the mortality among lives disabled by accident as compared with the mortality among lives disabled by disease, it might have been more instructive if greater emphasis had been placed upon a comparison with the mortality among active lives, particularly after the lapse of a period of several years following the accident.