dependence and compensation how much can dependents be compensated if you lose your life in an accident or a disaster well that varies. the family of a policeman who died in the nine eleven terror attacks was paid eight hundred fifty thousand dollars in federal compensation. but the family of a stockbroker who perished received six million dollars on the grounds that the stockbroker earned more and would have continued to do so lost a future earnings in other words that's how capitalism works. and humans in motion or worse insurance companies can't put a price tag on that only our loved one's hand. now some people actually have made it that business to calculate a human being's worth because after a disaster for example a plane crash or a car accident any incident that costs human life compensation is often paid by