Americans not accessing federal COVID-related funeral reimbursements
ATLANTA - Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died of COVID-19. It’s been an economic hardship for families. The government has funeral assistance dollars, but not enough people are applying.
In the American Rescue Plan, there is set-aside money for funeral and burial costs for families who lost a loved one to this deadly virus.
"Fewer than half of Americans have taken advantage of this. We’re now a year and a half into it," Funeralocity CEO Ed Michael Reggie told the FOX 5 I-Team.
Mr. Reggie believes people just aren’t familiar with the funeral assistance money managed by FEMA, or they think they won’t qualify.
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"It is a $9,000 benefit that every single American family is entitled to, regardless of income, if their family member died of anything attributed to COVID," he added.
In Georgia, 29,446 people have died of COVID. FEMA’s website shows only 13,533 applications for funeral assistance. That’s only about 46 percent participation.
Here’s what you do. Call FEMA. They say it’s a 20-minute conversation. The number is 844-684-6333. Two documents will be required: a death certificate and receipts for the funeral costs.
"Gotta hand it to FEMA, no means testing. A fairly easy process, but it must begin with a phone call to FEMA," said the funeral planning expert.
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Some states don't list a cause of death on the death certificate, so let your FEMA agent know so they can guide you through the process.
Also, cause of death can be confusing to some people. For example, a loved one may have had late-stage cancer but got COVID then died. Did that person die of cancer or COVID-19?
If the virus was involved, tell the person on the FEMA hotline, and they can tell you exactly how to proceed. They are aware of this issue and ready to help.