04/25/2022
FEMA COVID Funeral Aid Paid for Ineligible Items, Report Says
Published April 19, 2022
COVID-19, FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s COVID-19 funeral assistance program has reimbursed family members for expenses usually disallowed by federal guidelines, “putting millions of taxpayer dollars at an elevated risk of waste and abuse,” a federal report issued in April 2022 claims.
The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report cites reimbursements for flowers, obituaries, catering, printed materials, transportation and gratuities are among the examples disallowed under the federal Individual Assistance Program and Policy Guide. In one case, FEMA wrongly reimbursed a family $3,760 for transportation that included two es**rt vehicles, a limousine and a horse and carriage, according to the OIG report.
The FEMA funeral assistance program for COVID-19 victims began taking applications in April 2021 and has paid out more than $2 billion in direct aid to families of those who died of COVID-19 or coronavirus-related causes. More than $70 million in reimbursements has been paid to New Jersey families, and FEMA is still seeking to give out more aid, instituting a targeted awareness campaign to alert families in certain underserved areas to the program. Fewer than 50 percent of eligible families, both nationwide and in New Jersey, have applied for the aid.
The OIG report accuses FEMA of establishing a “lack of safeguards” with the COVID-19 funeral aid program, citing the agency’s response to previous disasters as a benchmark. For example, in the 2021 Florida Surfside condominium collapse, applicants were not reimbursed for items considered ineligible in IAPPG guidelines.
In a response to the OIG report, Cynthia Spishak, an associate administrator in the FEMA Office of Policy and Program Analysis, argued that the COVID-19-specific policy which the agency created for funeral reimbursement was needed to address “the scope and magnitude of the mortality” experienced during the pandemic. Nearly 1 million U.S. residents have died during the pandemic.
FEMA also said the agency’s COVID-19 policy included the phrase “eligible funeral service expenses include, but are not limited to,” which allowed the agency to broaden allowable items. The agency claimed it made congressional staff, along with a U.S. senator and representative, aware of its plan.
“However, the evidence FEMA provided does not show it informed lawmakers of its plan to reimburse applicants for expenses expressly precluded from eligibility in the IAPPG, or that FEMA informed Congress of operative procedures that do not limit payments to necessary expenses,” the OIG report states.
Spishak insisted “extensive engagements” were held with Congress concerning FEMA’s intent to streamline the review and reimbursement process and its plan to establish guidelines unique to the program.
The OIG report recommends that FEMA immediately revise its guidelines for COVID-19 funeral assistance to align with the IAPPG rules, but FEMA did not concur, saying it had “broad authority” to create program-specific rules. A change in guidelines now would result in a two-tiered reimbursement system that would adversely affect minority groups that FEMA is still attempting to reach, FEMA stated.
“As COVID-19-related death rates have been higher among many underserved populations, such as tribal nations, restricting eligible funeral assistance costs for applicants who have not yet been paid or may still apply for recent or future COVID-19 funerals would create inequity for these populations,” FEMA said.
