Marathon Pundit: ILL-inois: Deadbeat state takes up to year to pay for indigent funerals

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

ILL-inois: Deadbeat state takes up to year to pay for indigent funerals

Illinois has $200 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. It has $9 billion in unpaid bills. Among those waiting are funeral homes and cemeteries.

Death does not take a holiday in ILL-inois.

From the State Journal-Register:

Paying for the burial or cremation of Illinois’ indigent population continues to be a low priority for state officials charged with sorting through billions of dollars in old bills, according to funeral professionals around the state.

Illinois is running several months behind — sometimes up to a year — in paying funeral directors and cemeteries for expenses they incurred when they agreed to provide burial or cremation services for penniless, indigent and imprisoned residents.

It’s a dilemma for funeral directors around the state — they’re torn between an ethical predisposition that everyone deserves a proper funeral and the fiscal reality that it will take months to be reimbursed by the state for their expenses.