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"The trouble is, you think you have time."
- Buddha
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As if those need weren't enough, financial limitations have become the primary and overwhelming concern.
Most people I've worked with have a collection of medical bills that have already depleted savings not to mention the decimation of retirement funds by the economic collapse. They feel an enormous amount of guilt for leaving no financial legacy and they are concerned that their families will be left with a financial burden from the cost of care.
An increase in funeral costs along with a decline in less expensive. pre-purchased funeral arrangements has left more grieving families dealing with the impossibility of paying for funeral arrangements.
One indicator is the Make A Wish foundation. A small financial gift is sent with the intent that is is used for things like flying in family to say goodbye or purchasing equipment that will make care easier. However, in the past few years, the economy is so abysmal that the highest pre-death expectation is to keep the electric on for a few more months.
I ran across a story that illustrates the situation.
The Monday after Mother's Day, the balloons were found 35 miles away by Yvette Melton.
"I came into work with them and I said 'I have to find this family,' and my boss jumped on board. These letters had nothing to do with them asking for help, it was just three kids' thoughts to their mother. They had no intention of anyone finding it and they weren't asking for anything."
By that afternoon, she had collected $2,000 and called the mortuary who called the family. Melton also set up a Go Fund Me page and collected an additional $10,000 in nine hours. Go Fund Me ended up with $21,225.
The average cost for a cremation and memorial service is $1,650.

Americans spent $2 billion on funeral costs in 1960 or an average of $1450 on every person who died that year.
Indigent burial programs vary by states but generally involve an exhaustive search for relatives who, regardless of the history with the deceased, are legally responsible for funeral expenses.
When determining financial eligibility for Medicaid health care, an exemption is made for a funeral policy valued up to $1,500. Social Security provides a payment of $255 for burial costs.
There are several other costs to consider. Shipping a body by train or plane costs two to three times the rate of a ticketed passenger.


Gaskets or protective caskets cost the funeral home around $8 but increase the price of a casket by $800. Vaults also have a large markup and are not legally required for burial.
Mortuaries are not allowed to charge an additional fee if family purchases a casket or urn from another location and looking for options can save money. For example, one of the big box stores sells a $950 casket that is very similar to a $2,400 casket
at funeral homes.
"Even in death do we serve life"
Body donation is becoming more popular and cadavers are used for scientific research beyond traditional medial school dissection. Vehicle crash testing, NASA space suit development and military evaluation of safety equipment all use human bodies.
From a congressional committee in 1947 about the funeral industry:
"[Mortuaries] are the most highly specialized racket in the world. It has no standard prices; whatever can be charged and gotten away with is the guiding rule. . . . I could embalm a human body for forty cents and an elephant for $1.50. . . . Why, some of these bums charge a family $90 to bury a poor little baby in a casket that costs only $4.50."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stranger-helps-raise-money-calif-mom-funeral-article-1.1791896http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/21/death-in-the-city-what-happens-cemeteries-full-cost-dying
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-monroe-idUSTRE5A10PP20091102
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_donation
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2015/10/06/phoenix-body-donation-company-owner-guilty-plea/73440414/
http://www.realclearscience.com/lists/strange_uses_for_cadavers/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-ways-to-save-on-funeral-costs-2014-03-27
http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/02/20/what-to-do-when-theres-no-money-for-a-funeral
http://hubpages.com/money/How-Do-Cemeteries-Make-Money
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/20/travel/world-beautiful-cemeteries/
https://blog.personalcapital.com/retirement-planning/cost-of-funerals-death-and-dying/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088709/Third-world-America-Pics-paupers-grave-Chicago.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1963/06/the-undertakers-racket/305318/
#Hospice #DaethAndDying
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