Indigent is described as "needy, destitute, poor, lacking or deficient". And indigent burials are on the rise, which is an issue for State and local governments as the cost is publicly funded. In Portland, Oregon the rate of indigent burials has almost doubled since 2007 for the medical examiner's office. Colorado buried 32% more indigent people than in 2007. Illinois spent $1.9 million on indigent burials from July 1st to September 1st in 2011. (Nicas, 1/30/12) What is not known is the degree to which abandoned or unclaimed bodies are included in the statistics. It is an important distinction in order to understand how private or non-publicly funded burial costs are related to indigent burials.
The average funeral cost in the U.S. for 2009 was $6,560 not including cemetery costs. That is an 827% increase from 1960. Since the funeral industry is highly fragmented with the top four funeral home companies accounting for only 10% of the market, these prices could vary widely within local markets. (NFDA) The price is cost prohibitive for those with little to no assets or liquidity. A secondary insight is as a wealth indicator within a person's family who was an indigent burial. An indigent burial could be a person that has assets, but not enough to cover funeral costs or who has relatives that do not have enough assets to cover the funeral costs.
On average, 1 out of 6 Americans will live until age 100 relying on a monthly social security payment of $1,034 and retirement savings of $29,000. The over, but not over U.S. recession has further deteriorated the situation facing retirees as investment values have decreased and businesses are cutting pension benefits either through bankruptcy or not delivering the promised rate of return. It is not only domestic threats, but global threats such as an increased demand for resources - gasoline, natural gas, wheat, corn, beef, pig - among other commodities. The index for food at home rose 6% for 2011 compared to 1.7% in 2010. (BLS, 1/19/12)
The effects are already being seen in the labor force participation rate. For people 75 and older, the labor participation rate is the highest since 1966 at 7.5%. Labor participation for this group in 2018 is forecasted to be 10% or 2 million workers. (Greene, 1/21/11) Because these are elderly workers and social security limits the amount of money beneficiaries can earn in addition to monthly social security benefits, the jobs are likely to be lower wage service jobs in the retail industry or something similar. It could be argued that those working are the lucky ones. The issue of living on a fixed income with rising consumer prices for food, housing, and energy affects many more than just 7.5% of people age 75 or older.
Other age groups are dealing with additional difficulties that impede finding a solution. The over, but not over recession has left 3.9 million workers unemployed for a year or longer. Research has shown that those unemployed for 6 months or more, earned 60% less than those unemployed for 3 months. (Murray, 1/18/12) That is a significant loss of income and sets some people at a greater disadvantage than the age 75 and older group. Indigent burials will continue to increase to keep pace with a higher death rate, however it can also be expected that the percentage of indigent burials will increase as Americans fall further and further behind economically. The burden, then falls to the State and local governments and taxpayers so in one way or another the indigent as a taxpayer via sales tax, payroll tax, or property tax is on the indigent burial installment plan.
Sources:
Kelly Greene and Anne Tergesen, More Elderly Find They Can't Afford Not to Work, Wall Street Journal, January 21-22, 2012.
Sara Murray and Cameron McWhirter, Long Term Unemployment Ripples Through One Town, Wall Street Journal, January, 18, 2012.
National Funeral Director's Association, Media Center, Statistics, www.nfda.org
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index 2011, January 19, 2012.
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