AOC's new law to pay for COVID-19 victims' funeral expenses will be a relief for mourning families. But it does not go far enough.
- AOC and Chuck Schumer secured funding last week to reimburse $7,000 to families for COVID-19-related funerary expenses.
- Funeral services can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and families often use GoFundMe to help cover the costs.
- The money will be a major help for mourning families, but doesn't go far enough to cover the cost of a dignified burial.
- Jennifer Stavros is a journalist based in Los Angeles with a passion for exploring the vibrant nuances of life, death, politics, art, tech, advocacy, and pop culture.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced last Monday that they secured funding to reimburse families for COVID-19-related funerary expenses.
The disaster relief, similar to the FEMA disaster relief given to victims of Hurricane Sandy, will reimburse loved ones of COVID-19 victims for up to $7,000 in funerary expenses. This relief will be a massive aid for the most impoverished families to honor their loved ones, however it will only be a relief if the aid is not bound by the red tape that makes navigating these systems difficult. This benefit is tremendously necessary to better remember our dead, but it will not cover the full expenses needed in many parts of America.
Burying a loved one is not cheap
Funeral expenses vary across the country. The cost of a funeral in Los Angeles, for example, can cost approximately $10,000, and that's not including a burial, monument stone, crypt, or niche. The burial and other matters can easily set families back tens of thousands of dollars. A burial in Illinois, on the other hand, can cost thousands of dollars less.
Families are left to grieve and process while facing mounting funeral costs. The Ruiz family in Culver City, California was among those feeling the pains from this when their father David Ruiz, a previously healthy grocer, essential worker, and devoted husband, father, and grandfather, passed away on January 9. The family had to say goodbye on Zoom. Ruiz died two hours before his newest grandson was born.
"My father was such a great father. He loved us all so much. My dad was excited to meet his new grandson. When he got sick, he seemed to understand that he might not get that chance. He said that the world had to make room for a new king David," Angelica Lord, daughter of Ruiz said through tears.
Due to the pandemic families like the Ruizes are scrambling to get assistance for their funerary expenses, rushing to sites like GoFundMe.
"We are living in unexpected times," Lord said. "We can't properly grieve. This whole process was devastating. There were no resources to help us. We're just jumping back and forth trying to figure everything out. I would have liked to have had a list of cemeteries open. We're constantly making calls trying to find out information and waiting."
The resources available for funerary expenses are lacking
Families like the Ruizes are not alone in this plight. Even without the pandemic, the challenge of affording funerary expenses and accessing support is not uncommon. I'm currently working on a book that will unpack how the cost of death in America is not kind to the impoverished. It is why the new reimbursement fund is a massive support, even if it is not enough for many families.
But accessibility still poses an issue. It is currently unknown how easy it will be for families to get the assistance they are entitled to. Programs that assist families are notoriously difficult to access. Barriers such as confusing paperwork, criteria requirements, and deadlines can be difficult to navigate at the best of times, but are even harder to navigate while grieving.
Like the Ruiz family, in 2016 my family experienced a catastrophic unexpected loss and had to turn to fundraising efforts on GoFundMe. My sister's death should have been entitled to assistance for her funerary expenses in the state of Illinois due to the Crime Victim Compensation Program (a program which exists in varied forms across the country). But due to the lack of information provided to my family and timely paperwork which needed to be processed, my family never received this assistance.
Another program that families of the deceased may be entitled to is the Social Security Lump Sum Death Benefit. The benefit totals a pittance of $255, and has not been updated since 1981.
Most families do not know about these assistance programs. When I spoke to a local funeral expert in Los Angeles, they were not surprised.
"They don't exactly broadcast help like that. People just don't know that it's there. Once you find it, you jump through twenty hoops and it sometimes just goes nowhere," Kenny Law, funeral director at International Funeral Home in Los Angeles, said.
The government programs vary in accessibility. "There are very specific requirements to get government assistance and get funding. It's a lot of back and forth for the families and many don't even get it. [Advocates assisting] victims of crimes are often very helpful, but Social Security is never easy. A lot of places won't even tell you about it because nobody wants to deal with it." Law said.
Over a month after the Ruiz family lost their father, they still have not buried him. Due to the overflow of funeral matters across Los Angeles, the demand for burial plots, and figuring out how to pay for it all, the family is frozen in their grieving process. The knowledge of the pending reimbursement fund was helpful as they hadn't seen much information about it.
Those whose families cannot afford a proper burial end up in mass graves
Some private religious organizations are picking up the pieces where the government leaves them otherwise unassisted, but that is also limited, and in some cases, does not include a personalized memorial marker or even placement. You also need to actively know about these programs and look for them. Thousands of families each year are unable to afford proper burials for their loved ones, who often, as a result, end up buried in mass graves.
The Ruiz family informed me that due to their father's attendance at a local church, there was some assistance potentially available for their family. But there is a waitlist.
"My father is still sitting at a mortuary in Los Angeles," said Lord. "He's been there for weeks. We keep calling to find out more information. If we can get the assistance - which doesn't even cover everything because we weren't able to raise enough - he could be buried with up to three other people. We don't have all the details… There is no movement."
For families like the Ruizes, this legislation is a silver lining. But we have a long way to go before families of all income levels can fully and equally celebrate and remember their loved ones.
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