As America is gearing up for its 2020 elections we hear a lot of campaign rhetoric about the haves and the have nots.  One of the statistics that you hear is that of a Federal Reserve survey that contends that 40% of U.S. adults said they couldn’t easily cover an unplanned expense of $400.  So, as funeral directors know, many deaths come at unplanned times when the families that they happen to are not financially ready to face the commitment that funeral services entail.

That reality, and what the consequences of it are to government units,  is what this article from the Aitkin Age of Aitkin, Minnesota, speaks about.  Aitkin County is a sparsely populated county of about 15,000 inhabitants in northeast Minnesota.  In that county, where by state statute the county is responsible for covering the costs of final disposition when someone dies with no assets to cover funeral costs, costs to the county are almost doubling for this expense.

And, it isn’t only Aitkin County.  In nearby St. Louis County where the city of Duluth sits, costs for “indigent” burials have went over budget by $100,000 – $200,000 annually.  In Hennepin county, home to the state’s largest city, Minneapolis, the article states that costs have went from $1.1 million to $1.6 million in just the last couple of years.

Jennie Lippert, of farm rich Kandiyohi County where the article states that costs have went from $66,000 to $112,000 from 2015 to 2018, states in the article, “Clearly, we’re having a lot of individuals who aren’t planning or preparing or having the financial means to afford the cost of burial.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  There is no doubt that these numbers will take a toll eventually.  We will see that toll in two places.  First of all, and very apparent, is what will counties that are responsible for these costs do as the budgets continue on upward for this service?  In government, whether you think it is too small or too big, one thing is always apparent, there is a lot of competition for the money in the public coffers.  Publicly funded funerals is somewhat of a necessity at times, but I can’t see it getting any leeway when the funding takes away from feeding and housing the poor and other worthwhile causes.  My guess is that there will be no groundswell of support for public funeral funding in competition with all of the other causes out there.

Secondly, and probably less apparent, but of great concern for our profession, is the toll it will take on funeral homes and their finances.  Funeral directors have historically discounted their prices for services paid for by the county.  Margins were big enough to allow this if only 1-3% of your services were county services.

However, if county services are growing as a percentage of total services and funeral home profits are dropping with the advent of cremation and especially cremation without services, how excited will funeral homes be about discounting their services to land a couple of county funerals?  Which by the way, generally take all of the effort of other higher priced funerals. . . and many times because of family dynamics.  .can be more stressful on the funeral home owners and staff.

And, just to keep the merry-go-round going, if funeral homes won’t discount their services, then counties will pay more per case and their budgets will increase and the cycle continues.

I don’t have an answer for this coming problem.  I do know that social workers and almost all funeral directors I have ever worked with try to be as helpful and sympathetic as possible in these types of unfortunate cases.  And, I think going forward this problem will only exacerbate. . . .Maybe it is time we delay every persons entrance into Social Security by a month or two and apply that first couple of months checks to a potential direct cremation fund for that individual in case they die penniless.

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