FEMA provides up to $9,000 to pay for the funeral of a person who died from COVID. Why I’m not sure, given the financial burden would still exist regardless of the cause of death. But it is what it is.
What is troubling is that there are no financial requirements or limits. Income doesn’t matter and neither do the proceeds from life insurance. The only financial limitation is stated below.
Proof of funds received from other sources specifically for use toward funeral costs. We are not able to duplicate benefits received from burial or funeral insurance, financial assistance received from voluntary agencies, government agencies, or other sources.
In today’s political environment we have a new federal program using borrowed money to pay for funerals based on the cause of death, even if the family income is hundreds of thousands of dollars or if there is a million dollars in life insurance.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
FLASH…the usual suspects are just buying more votes with taxpayers money.
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This also baffles me. Why is FEMA giving out the money? Does this mean that every time a president declares any kind of emergency that FEMA will have to give out $9,000 to those families who had family members who died? Will Social Security now have to raise the death benefit from $255 to $9,000?
Can you drop your basic burial life insurance? It seems like the best way to get this money is to have no insurance or anybody else willing to pay for a funeral. You have a $1 million in a 401K, well all that money goes to the beneficiaries and not toward your burial so you qualify for $9,000?
How did needy people get buried before Covid? I am assuming that they did since there are not dead bodies laying in the streets. How do homeless people get buried? I am all for helping the people and or charities that help bury people who are too poor to be buried. That would be a fair use of public funds.
Two things are true and they are death and taxes. So why has Covid-19 changed the fact that you can die at any moment, but if you die from only this disease, the government will pay for your funeral? As part of your retirement planning, you should know how you are going to pay for your funeral. 95% of the Covid deaths in the US were people over the age of 50 who should have been at least thinking about funeral planning and death. It is not like they were surprised that death is a reality compared to a 20-yr-old who thinks that they are still indestructible.
The cost of funeral in NJ averages from $6K to $11K. Funeral home services, caskets, plot, area of the country, etc. are factors that affect the cost. Cremation in NJ averages $1K to $3K (all according to Google). My guess is just the cremation and a cardboard box is the low end.
There are three real dangers from the government giving everybody up to $9,000. 1) fraud and price padding, 2) another unfunded benefit which will have to come from taxes or borrowed money therefore increasing the national debt, 3) like everything else that the government throws money at like housing or students loans, the prices and costs will sky rocket. Funeral services can now start at $9,000. No funeral or cremation will be $1,000 anymore. Go ahead and order a coffin. You can afford it. Your are entitled.
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