Even the Dead Have Trouble Getting Out of Oregon

Oregon is among several states where dwindling revenues and reduced cremation costs are affecting the bottom line for mortuaries.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - States across the country are having to cope with increased numbers of indigent burials and cremations. The New York Times reports that in Oregon alone, the number of unclaimed bodies has increased by half over the last few years.

“There are more people in our cooler for a longer period of time,” says Dr. Karen Gunson, Oregon’s medical examiner. “It’s not that we’re not finding families, but that the families are having a harder time coming up with funds to cover burial or cremation costs. I’ve been here for 24 years, and I can’t remember something like this happening before.”

Oregon is not the only state with this problem. Increasing numbers of families are finding that they cannot afford burial or cremation costs for loved ones. States, too, are finding it increasingly difficult to come up with the extra money. Some state programs provide disposition services to people on Medicaid, a cost that has increased along with Medicaid rolls. In June the Oregon state legislature increased the filing fee for death certificates from $7 to $20 to help offset the cost of publicly paid cremations which cost about $450.

* In Chapel Hill, N.C., the coroner’s office typically averaged 25 to 30 unclaimed bodies each year. At the end of 2008 fiscal there were at least 60.

* Wayne County, Michigan bought a refrigerated truck after the morgue ran out of space. The truck, which holds 35 bodies, is currently full. They will buy a second truck if necessary.

* In Tennessee unclaimed bodies are donated to the Forensic Anthropological Research Center where students at the University of Tennessee study decomposition. The facility had to briefly refuse donations because it had received so many this year.

* So far in 2009, Wisconsin has paid for 15 percent more cremations than it did last year, as the number of Medicaid recipients grew by more than 95,000 people since the end of January.

* Illinois tried to end the state’s indigent burial program this year by shifting the financing to counties and funeral homes, but the state eventually found $12 million to continue the program when funeral directors balked.

But it’s not just the public purse that is challenged. Because cremations are about a third to a half as much as burial, even those who can afford it are choosing it more, impacting the bottom lines of funeral homes. In 2003, 29.5 percent of remains were cremated; by 2008 the number had grown to 36 percent, according to the Cremation Association of North America, which says it is expected to reach 46 percent by 2015.