FEMA offers generous funeral aid to those grieving COVID-19 deaths. Getting it isn’t easy. | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Noelle Alviz-Gransee (Wisconsin Watch) and Kristin Byrne (TMJ4 News)
July 8, 2021
ShenoraStaten-Jordan felt lost when her father, Gary Lee Staten, died of COVID-19 inMay. She hadn’t expected to lose him so soon at age 61 — or for acontagious disease to hinder her goodbye.
Allof that only strengthened her Milwaukee family’s wishes to give Staten — abeloved father and grandfather who spent 30-plus years serving Milwaukee PublicSchools — the type of homegoing service he deserved, she said.
“Welook at the news every day and we are seeing numbers of COVID-19 cases, andpeople that have lost their lives to COVID-19,” Staten-Jordan said. “And who hewas as a person is minimized.”
Butthe service, burial and extra expenses set the family back $21,000.
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Arelative told Staten-Jordan about a Biden administration program that mighthelp. The Federal Emergency Management Agency in April began accepting
applicationsto help cover funeral and burial costs for those who have died of COVID-19since Jan. 20, 2020.
Theprogram, created and expanded through two stimulus bills enacted by Congress,aims to ease the burden of memorializing hundreds of thousands of Americanslost to the coronavirus.
Applicantsare eligible for up to $9,000 per funeral through the FEMA program and up to$35,500 for people who pay for multiple COVID-19-related funerals. That’s justbelow the $9,135 national median cost of an adult funeral with burial, according to a 2019
National Funeral Directors Association estimate. The median adult funeral withcremation was $6,645.
Staten-Jordanhoped the application process would be straightforward, allowing her family tomove on with their lives. It was anything but, she said.
“Ibegan to call (FEMA) to see if those funds could be available to me, how itworked, what I needed to submit. I was just kind of really confused,” she said.“And that’s when I started the journey of not being able to speak to anyone.”
Concernshave echoed nationwide about confusing bureaucracy and waits as the agency wades through
thousands of applications. After all, as of July 1, the pandemic had killed more than602,000 people in the United States, including 7,300-plus in Wisconsin.
FEMA is initiating applications only over the phone,
and Staten-Jordanstruggled for weeks to reach an operator. She recalls making about eight calls in May and June
before reaching an employee who estimated that it would take three to five days forFEMA to approve the receipts she uploaded and as many as 90 additional days todeliver the reimbursement.
“Itwasn’t a readily available resource for me during a very traumatic time of mylife and my family’s life. And my heart goes out to those families who areabsolutely depending on this resource,” Staten-Jordan said, adding that she was“blessed” she could afford her father’s service without too much financialhardship.
DanShulman, a FEMA Region 5 spokesperson, acknowledges hiccups early as the agency— which had never previously run a call-in-only operation, let alone onsuch a big scale — struggled to handle a crush of calls. But the agency hassince added employees and improved the process, he said.
“Inthe first day or two, I’m sure you heard from people that tried to call in. Wereceived more than a million phone calls that first day,” he said. “Wequickly were able to work with our technical partners to address the technicalproblems, and since then, from a technical standpoint, we’ve been able toaccommodate people with very, very minimal delays.”
$6 million in aid to Wisconsinites
Asof June 28, FEMA has delivered $447 million in assistance to 66,800 peoplenationwide, agency data show. It distributed about $6 million to872 applicants in Wisconsin, about 23% of the 3,734 who have called to startthe application process. Fewer than 10 applicants in the state were ruledineligible as of mid-June, Shulman said.
Hesaid processing times range from two weeks to 30 days after an applicantsubmits receipts and other required documentation — including evidencethat COVID-19 caused the death. But some applications are more complicated thanothers, Shulman said, making individual wait times hard to predict.
Callersnow wait less than a minute on average to connect with an operator, hesaid.
Staten-Jordanhad a much different experience beginning in May. During her first two calls,she waited for almost 50 minutes before the calls ended abruptly, she said. Inone case, the phone just rang. In the other, she recalled hearing nosound.
Shetried again on a Monday morning, she said, and waited more than an hour on holdbefore getting disconnected. A handful of additional disconnected calls later,Staten-Jordan finally reached a staffer whom she called “very professional andpatient.” The operator showed her how to upload receipts and other documents.
“I’mused to using technology to get things done. My dad, or my mom or mygrandmother or other people that are not as technologically savvy, they wouldhave struggled with that process,” Staten-Jordan said. “It’s already atraumatic experience, an abrupt experience, and to be greeted with so manyhurdles to receive this resource, it’s unfortunate.”
Whydoes FEMA initiate applications only over the phone? Shulman offered severalreasons. It allows operators to approach applicants with compassion and preventconfusion, particularly since the format of death certificates varies fromstate to state. Employees manually process each application — includingthose with handwritten documents that an automated system might fail torecognize, Shulman said.
Whensomeone calls, Shulman said, an operator walks them through the process,including what documents are needed. The agency follows up with a letterformally requesting that information, which can be mailed,
faxed or uploaded to a government web portal.
WhenFEMA launched the program, it required all applicants to submit a deathcertificate listing COVID-19 as a cause of death. The agency announced on June29 that it eased rules for applicants who lost loved onesbetween Jan. 20 and May 16, 2020 — an early stretch of the pandemic thatpredated widespread COVID-19 testing and federal guidance for documenting thedisease as a cause on death certificates. Those applicants now may qualify bysubmitting a signed letter from a coroner, medical examiner or official whocertified the death certificate that links COVID-19 to the death.
Spreading the word
Shulmansaid the agency needs help in its goal to reach everyone who is eligible.Congress did not cap total payouts from the program, so applicants are notcompeting for funds.
“Wedon’t just reimburse family. We will reimburse anybody that incurred funeralexpenses as a result of COVID-19,” he said. “So it could have been yourneighbor, it could have been a long-time friend, it could have been somebodythat you didn’’ know that you just felt the generosity to help cover the costof their funeral.”
Theagency, however, can only reimburse a single applicant — the person whopaid the bill — for each funeral, Shulman added.
“Wecan’t bring back your loved one, but we can help ease the financial burden ofthe loss,” he said.
EllenMcBrayer, executive vice president of Jones-Wynn Funeral Homes and Crematoryoutside of Atlanta, Georgia, and a spokesperson for the National FuneralDirectors Association, said she hopes that more will apply for funeral aid, butgrief may be preventing some people from doing so.
“Whenpeople see that and they’ve suffered a loss, emotionally, it would have to behard to take another step,” she said. “Families have just been devastated.”
SheilaReid-Johnson, who operates Reid’s New Golden Gate Funeral Home in Milwaukee andRacine and owns another funeral home in Chicago, said some clients are aware ofthe aid program but arrive with misperceptions. Some incorrectly think thatFEMA will pay their bill upfront rather than later reimburse costs or — they incorrectly assume that multiple family members can recoup costs for thesame funeral, she said.
Reid-Johnsontries to clear up confusion — help that Staten-Jordan said she hopes funeralhomes will continue to offer grieving families as they navigate FEMA’sbureaucracy.
“Wewere blessed that we had themeans to lay my father to rest and to give him a wonderful homegoing experience— for myself, for my children, for my brother and the rest of our family,”she said. “For those that (depend on this money for a funeral), my prayers andmy thoughts are with them, and I hope that they keep the faith.”
Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a Reynolds Journalism Institute
Innovation fellow for Wisconsin Watch, working with its News414 collaboration.
Kristin Byrne a consumer reporter for the TMJ4 I-Team. The
nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates
with WPR, Wisconsin PBS, other news media and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works
created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not
necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
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Navigating FEMA’s COVID-19 funeral assistance program
Who is eligible: People who paid for funerals/burials for COVID-19 deathsin the U.S. on or after Jan. 20, 2020 — and who can present receipts anddocumentation of a the cause of death. The death certificate must indicate thedeath was caused by, “may have been caused by” or “was likely a result of”COVID-19 or COVID-19-like symptoms. For deaths that occured between Jan. 20 andMay 16, 2020, a signed letter from a coroner, medical examiner or official whocertified the death certificate that links COVID-19 to the death suffices asdocumentation. Non-U.S. citizens may apply.
How much aid is available: Applicants are eligible for up to$9,000 per funeral through the FEMA program and up to $35,500 for people whopay for multiple COVID-19-related funerals. Congress did not cap total payoutsfrom the program.
What costs are covered: A range of items, including funeral services, cremations,transfers of remains, caskets/urns, burial plots/cremation niches, gravemarkers/headstones. More examples are listed here.
What info/documents are needed: Social Security numbers (for the applicant/deceased),dates of birth (for the applicant/deceased), applicant’s mailing address andphone number, location/address where death occured, information about anyburial or funeral insurance policies or other funeral assistance received,routing and account numbers for applicant’s checking or savings account ifdirect deposit is requested.
How to apply/send info: 
Call 844-684-6333. Anoperator will outline the application process and record information. Documentsmay later be submitted through mail, fax, or an online portal at DisasterAssistance.gov.
For more information: Visit this website or callthe Funeral Assistance Helpline at 844-684-6333.
Other help: Those who are ineligible for FEMA assistance can ask their funeral home or service providers about the Wisconsin Funeral and Cemetery Aids Program. Eligible applicants can get up to $1,500 for funeral/burial expenses, and up to $1,000 for unmet cemetery/crematory expenses. Find more information here.