More Mainers are leaning on state help to pay for burials, cremations

Feb. 3—After a homeless man died on the streets of Portland several years ago, the Rev. Jeffrey Logan found the man’s mother in Augusta. She was in shock and grieving, and had no idea where she would find the money to cremate her son.

Logan, a pastor with Grace-Street Ministry in Portland, suggested she reach out to General Assistance, a state program that helps pay for basic necessities, including cremation.

“Otherwise, she was sitting there as a grieving mother, with her son in a refrigerated drawer in Augusta,” Logan said.

When people in Maine die without resources or family to pay for their burial or cremation, General Assistance can step in to pay for the cost of their basic final arrangements. The number of people who need that assistance has increased in recent years, putting more pressure on municipal officials to determine if people qualify, as well as funeral homes that shoulder costs far beyond what the program pays for.

“I hear all the time from funeral homes throughout the state that are experiencing an increased number of families who need to lean on General Assistance. And every funeral home says with the increased numbers, it’s hard to continue to serve those families,” said Adam Walker, president of the Maine Funeral Directors Association and owner of the Conroy-Tully Walker funeral homes in Portland, South Portland and Springvale.

Despite the financial pressure, funeral directors take on General Assistance cases because “they are putting their hearts and communities first in caring for their neighbors,” Walker said.

“Funeral homes, by and large, want to do the right thing for families,” he said.

Since 2019, the state has seen an increase in costs for burials and cremations paid through General Assistance. There were sharp increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, with expenses jumping nearly $100,000 in 2021 and another $27,000 in 2022, to reach a high of more than $457,000 statewide.

In fiscal year 2024, the total cost statewide was more than $371,000, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. The state reimburses towns 70% of those costs.

It’s no secret that the cost of funerals can be high, especially for families with low incomes who don’t have the savings to cover an unexpected death that can cost thousands of dollars. Funeral directors say that stress compounds families’ grief.

The median cost of a funeral with a viewing and burial in the United States is $7,848, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. For a cremation, the median cost is about $6,280.

In Maine, where nearly 80% of people are now cremated, the cost of a standard cremation is typically over $1,000. That doesn’t include extra expenses, like visiting hours and funeral services, obituaries and urns.

Under General Assistance, the state will pay up to $1,620 for burials and $1,125 for cremations. It is designed to be a program of last resort and is critically important for people with no other way to pay to bury their loved ones, said Ryan Gorneau, Portland’s assistant director of social services.

“This is a huge service for those that have no other resources,” he said.

James Pate, owner and funeral director of Dennett, Craig & Pate in Saco, Buxton and Scarborough, said families that come in with no assets often look “like deer in headlights.” He guides them to General Assistance to apply for help — something he used to do only occasionally.

“When it first started, you were lucky if you did one or two a year,” he said. “We probably have one or two going at all times now.”

HOW IT WORKS

General Assistance is most commonly associated with benefits that help people meet their basic needs, including housing and food. It also helps with fuel and utilities, medical expenses and basic household supplies and toiletries. Its rules are laid out by the state, and benefits are administered by municipalities.

After a funeral home receives a body, the staff has to notify the municipality within three days if assistance may be needed to pay for the burial. The town then has eight days to determine eligibility.

If the deceased person has a financially liable family member — a spouse, parent, grandparent or child — that person will apply for assistance. In some cases, the town may cover a gap if the family is able to make some contribution.

Gorneau, who is also president of the Maine Welfare Directors Association, said processing applications for burial assistance can be a challenge for municipal staff on a tight timeline to find family members and track down information from banks that don’t always comply with requirements to provide information.

Harrison Deah, Westbrook’s director of General Assistance and social services, said his office will work with families to try to identify resources, such as veteran benefits, to help cover costs. The work includes checking to see if the deceased had money in their bank account. If there are other benefits or money available, the city will use that to pay for the cremation or to bury the person in a city-owned cemetery, depending on the family’s wishes.

“It’s important to have a service like this in the community because you will always have people who don’t have the means to pay for a burial or cremation,” he said. “You want to make sure you give them the respect they deserve.”

In Portland, the vast majority of assistance is used for cremations. The combined number of cremations and burials paid for through General Assistance varies year to year, from a low of 48 in 2018 to a high of 105 in 2021, according to city data.

It is not uncommon in Portland to see situations where a body is unclaimed and abandoned, often when the person is homeless, Gorneau said.

Logan, from Grace-Street Ministries, said the program ensures that people who are often overlooked and forgotten in life are given the respect and care they deserve in death. And those arrangements bring a measure of comfort to their loved ones, he said.

“Anything that can help get them through the process of grieving is huge,” he said.

A CHALLENGE FOR FUNERAL HOMES

Walker said the funeral directors association may soon push to increase the state’s expense cap because of the time and resources involved. There have been only small adjustments to the maximums over the years that have not kept up with the increased costs that funeral homes have to absorb, he said.

Walker estimates he handled burials and arrangements for nearly 50 people last year paid for with General Assistance funds. But the reimbursement doesn’t come close to covering all of his expenses; he estimates he has donated about $195,000 in services.

Jeffrey Dobson, who owns Dobson Family Funeral Home in Arundel, said he’s seen a noticeable increase in situations where there is no ability to pay for even the most basic cremation or burial. He often gets calls to handle arrangements for people who were homeless or had substance use disorder and no immediate family.

“Everybody deserves to be taken care of,” he said. “As long as I have the ability to do it, I’ll do it.”

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