Taxpayers Provide $7,500 to Cover Chicago Homicide Funerals — Predatory Businesses Are Cashing In – By Sydney Monduy (ijr.com) / Aug 23 2018
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Chicago’s crime rate continues to spike, with 58 people being shot last weekend, resulting in seven fatalities.
According to a Fox News report, Chicago funeral homes are taking advantage of this tragic situation and the families grieving because of it.
“Every funeral home in the state knows that victims get $7,500 for a funeral, and it’s their goal to charge the entire amount because it’s easy money,” Susan Johnson, the executive director of Chicago Survivors, said.
Johnson’s organization helps those who are suffering from the loss of a loved one. However, the director claimed she has observed funeral homes taking advantage of a government program.
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average funeral cost around $8,000 in 2012. The state of Illinois provides eligible families of victims of violent crime up to $27,000 in financial assistance, and murder victims receive $7,500.
However, Joshua Solcum, the executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, claimed that funeral homes are over-billing families in order to get as much profit as possible.
“(The families) have an ethical right to be angry,” Solcum told Fox News. “It’s one of the worst ways to victimize people.”
Johnson said that “it happens all the time” but that families are not prepared to fight back.
“They’ve had it,” Johnson said. “They have just gotten through the worst thing in their lives, and they don’t want to get into a protracted fight with a funeral home.”
Although this issue may not be receiving much attention, speaking out may be the first step to changing the status quo.
“I would say directly to any family … please, please speak up,” Solcum said.
https://ijr.com/ijr-red/2018/08/1118423-taxpayers-chicago-homicide-funerals/
