Illinois Suspends Funerals For Poor

For the poor, it's a final indignity, funeral directors say:

The state of Illinois is suspending payments for funerals for the indigent.

That money -- $1,103 that goes to the funeral home, $552 for the cemetery -- can make the difference between a modest service and a burial in a potter's field, said John Baran of Baran Funeral Home at 2644 N. Central Ave.

"I know we're going through budget cuts," Baran said, "but. . . . "

A letter to funeral homes last week from the Department of Human Services announced the cutback, blaming "the General Assembly's failure to approve the revenue plan proposed by Gov. Quinn."

"The program doesn't have funding right now," the agency's Tom Green said Monday.

He echoed Quinn's comments last week that many services would be cut as a result of the budget stalemate.

He said Illinois pays about $15 million a year for about 10,000 funerals for the poor.

A funeral home makes "maybe 50 bucks" on these burials, Baran said, "by the time you pay the transportation to pick up the body, transportation out to the cemetery, the embalming, plus the casket."

The state will pay for funerals that have taken place, Green said. But payment for funerals held after July 1 will be pushed to the budget year that begins July 1, 2010.

Funeral directors predicted bodies will begin piling up at medical examiner's offices.

"I'm sure what is going to happen is all these remains are going to be heading to the morgue," said Bill Andersen, owner of Andersen Funeral Home at 3234 W. North Ave.

Already, some funeral home owners have gotten so tired of waiting for state reimbursement that they've stopped handling indigent burials, Baran said.

Andersen said the state owes him $30,000 for indigent burials.

The new policy "just cut the legs right out from underneath me," he said.

Illinois is one of a handful of states that offers funding for funerals for the indigent, said Roman Szabelski of the archdiocesan office of Catholic Cemeteries, which handles about 400 state-assisted funerals a year.

Catholic Cemeteries won't turn anyone away, he said.