COVID funerals can be covered by federal funds, but less than half of eligible Tennessee families have applied

Two caskets sit by holes in the ground — one silver, one white. It’s a small, graveside service on a humid afternoon in the town of Travelers Rest, South Carolina.

Through tears, the family sings “I’ll Fly Away.” They had lost a mom and dad, both to COVID.

“They died five days apart,” says Allison Leaver, who now lives in Maryland with her husband and kids.

Leaver’s parents died in the summer of 2020. It was a crushing tragedy. And there was no life insurance or burial policy.

“We just figured we were just going to have to put that on our credit cards and pay it off, and that’s how we were going to deal with that,” the public school teacher says with a laugh.

But then, in April of last year, FEMA started offering to reimburse funeral expenses — up to $9,000, which is roughly the average cost of a funeral. And it was retroactive.

So Leaver applied ASAP.

“If this horrible thing had to happen, at least we weren’t going to be out the cash for it,” she says.

A year into the program, the federal government has paid out more than $2 billion to cover funeral costs for COVID victims. But in Tennessee, fewer than half of COVID deaths have resulted in an application for the money, and a WPLN News analysis finds most states have even lower participation.

Many surviving family members have run into challenges or still don’t know the money is available.

For those who know

FEMA launched a big call center, hiring 4,000 contractors in Denver. Everyone has to call to initiate the process. FEMA received a million calls on the first day, leaving many waiting on hold until they could get through.

Once she talked to a representative, Leaver started assembling the death certificates and receipts from the funeral home and cemetery. She uploaded them online — and heard nothing for months.

Eventually, she called and learned the receipts she submitted had different signatures — one from her husband, another from her sister. That was a problem. And even though it was a joint funeral, to get the full amount per parent, she had to have separate receipts. It was frustrating, but she was determined to get it done, “come hell or high water.” Plus, she says, it was summer break, and she had time.

But many haven’t.

Clerical challenges have discouraged some participation, especially for those with deaths from early in the pandemic, says Jaclyn Rothenberg, FEMA’s chief spokesperson.

“Some people with death certificates didn’t necessarily have COVID listed as the cause of death,” she says. “We do have a responsibility to our taxpayer stewards to make sure that that is, in fact, the cause.”

But Rothenberg says FEMA is trying to work with everyone. Even though the agency has spent the $2 billion initially budgeted, Rothenberg says there’s a new pot of stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Many don’t know

WPLN News analyzed FEMA’s data compared to official COVID fatalities through February 15. States with the highest participation are clustered in the South. North Carolina, South Carolina and Mississippi all have more than half of deaths resulting in applications. Other states are far below half. Arizona and Oregon have had just one-in-four participate.

It’s generally not a question of eligibility. One of the few disqualifiers (listed here) is if someone pre-paid for their funeral. And there’s still no deadline.

“We need people to continue helping us get the word out,” Rothenberg says. “We know we have more work to do.”

FEMA is launching an ad campaign to promote the program since there’s plenty of money left, Rothernberg says. But they’re also leaning on community groups connected to those who need to know about the money.

COVID Survivors for Change, founded by Chris Kocher, has been helping people navigate the process, including through a Facebook webinar.

“We were able to connect people to some of the survivors that had been through that process already just to help them walk through it,” he says.

Many just need someone to complete the application for them.

Stephanie Smith of Carlisle, Kentucky, lost her father to COVID. Her mother, who was 83 at the time, had no chance.

“She’s a very smart, spunky lady, but she’s never used a computer,” Smith says.

At a minimum, applying requires scanning or faxing.

“She probably would not have attempted to do it because the whole process would have been overwhelming for her,” she says.

But Smith was able to jump through the hoops without much trouble. And $9,000, she says, is enough to make life considerably easier as her mom adjusts to being a COVID widow.