INDIGENT BURIALS RAISE COUNTY CONCERNS

When 75-year-old Cape Girardeau resident Odale Anderson died on Jan. 2, a local funeral home asked the Cape Girardeau County Commission to pay part of the cremation costs.

The commission refused to pay, arguing that Anderson wasn't indigent.

"With the presence of living relatives and Social Security funds, we feel other methods of payment should be investigated," the commission's administrative assistant, Donna Vines, wrote in a Jan. 7 letter to Ford and Sons Funeral Home.

Anderson, a self-employed mechanic, is survived by a nephew and two nieces who live in Cape Girardeau. The funeral bill totaled $1,165.

While the commission refused to make a $600 indigent burial payment in that case, the commission approved seven $600 payments for indigent burials and cremations last year.

Commissioners refused to make a burial payment in the case of 68-year-old Willis Lair because he lived in Scott County. Lair had been living in Scott City. He died last May.

Cape County spent $4,200 on indigent burials and cremations in 1999, nearly double the amount spent in 1998.

Commissioners rely on information from the Missouri Division of Family Services in determining if the deceased was indigent.

But the commissioners are increasingly questioning whether the cases they receive involve truly indigent people.

They want to develop a more detailed policy. The current policy, adopted in September 1993, provides for a maximum payment of $600 for an adult and $300 for an infant.

Commissioner Larry Bock said money isn't the issue. "To me, the issue is whether the person is truly indigent."

The reluctance of some families to pay burial expenses dismays Bock. "There's not family values involved here anymore."

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones would like to see more documentation as to whether a person is truly indigent.

The county commission in the past has approved payments for the burial of individuals who had Social Security benefits.

Robert Youngblood, for example, received $730 a month in Social Security benefits. But the money went to pay for his care at the Beverly Health and Rehabilitation Services nursing home in Cape Girardeau.

When he died last Dec. 13 at the age of 50, the county contributed $600 for his burial. Funeral expenses totaled more than $1,800.

Part of the problem is that the Social Security Administration no longer makes burial payments according to Jeff Brune, legislative assistant to the county commission, who has researched the issue.

The Social Security Administration pays only a lump sum to the family or surviving spouse. The agency used to pay $255 for a burial, but the program was eliminated in 1983, Brune said.

The federal government does make burial payments in the case of military veterans, Brune said.

He recently surveyed a dozen counties in the state. Of those, only Clay County in the Kansas City area paid a higher burial payment, $650 for an adult burial and $475 for cremation.

Some counties don't pay a dime. In Cass County, local churches donate money to cover the burials of indigent people.

In Carter County, the funeral homes write off the cost of indigent burials as donations to the county, Brune said.

Some counties pay different amounts, depending on whether a person is buried or cremated, and whether the deceased is an adult or child.

But the Cape Girardeau County payments and those in other counties don't begin to pay all the funeral expenses, said Bill Kuss, co-owner of Lorberg Memorial Funeral Chapel.

"The funeral home has to eat the rest of it,' said Kuss.

There are costs for digging a grave, as well as for the casket or urn. Locally, indigent persons are buried in Cape Girardeau city's Fairmount Cemetery or Jackson's Russell Heights Cemetery.

Funeral expenses can run anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000, Kuss said.

A deceased person's family isn't required to pay for the funeral. "It is hard to get money out of a family if they don't want to pay it," he said.

Kuss said the Division of Family Services in Cape Girardeau County has to stipulate that the deceased is indigent before the funeral home can request indigent-burial money from the county commission.

Kuss believes the state should pick up the tab for indigent burials as is done in Illinois.

"Some counties can't afford to pay," he said. "The funeral home can't afford it, either."