CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE: American Health Care Act

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25. Not really - communities will end up like West Virginia

With no enough money to buy the indigent deceased.

WV indigent burial fund out of money -- again
By Christopher Ingraham
The Washington Post
March 7, 2017

Deaths in West Virginia have overwhelmed a state program providing burial assistance for needy families for at least the fifth year in a row, causing the program to be nearly out of money four months before the end of the fiscal year, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources. Funeral directors in West Virginia say the state’s drug overdose epidemic, the worst in the nation, is partly to blame.

West Virginia’s indigent burial program, which budgets about $2 million a year for funeral financial assistance, had already been under pressure from the aging of the baby-boom generation. The program offers an average of $1,250 to help cover funeral expenses for families who can’t otherwise afford them.

In the current fiscal year ending June 30, “1,508 burials have been submitted for payment through the Indigent Burial Program,” according to Allison Adler, a spokesman for state DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch. “There are funds remaining for 63 additional burials.”

The program has been around for decades, according to Adler, but only began running out of funds starting in 2013. In 2014, the program ran out of money in June. By 2015, the program’s budget was depleted by March, similar to where it stands this year.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20170307/wv-indigent-burial-fund-out-of-money----again#sthash.aQq8Roz6.dpuf