Funeral funding plan moves towards vote

Tonight Des Moines County officials are closer to changing their policy regarding who pays for poor people's funerals. Their quest turned up a centuries old law and it appears many counties are not following the rules.

Funeral Directors lined up to discuss a long forgotten rule that officials here forgot to follow and it turns out Des Moines County is not alone.

Iowa State law drafted in 1873 means most bodies of the poor, or indigent, must be offered to medical schools before burial at taxpayer expense. An update about 30 years ago set a $400 limit per taxpayer funded funeral. Research into community service guidelines revealed that Des Moines County and many others have been breaking this long forgotten law.

"It's very interesting", said Dan Cahill, Vice Chair of the Board of Supervisors. "This is an Iowa Code section that nobody seems to be following and nobody seems to know anything about."

Here taxpayers pay up to $1,900 per qualifying case. So far this year officials have approved 9 applications for funding.

The debate began a few years back and changes in how Des Moines County decides whether next of kin can pay has greatly reduced the number of taxpayer funded funerals. During the quest they learned that researchers have strict pre-approval guidelines meaning the schools won't accept most of the bodies in question. Still, because law requires counties try supervisors drafted new rules.

Now, unless a poor person does not oppose being used for science before death, a call will be made to the Iowa Department of Public Health to see if they're needed for research before a funeral is funded.

"The state needs to outline say, this is what happens, and it would take care of the problem", said Funeral Director, Chip Readinger.

In fact, that's what supervisors hope will happen next. They'll vote on the proposal next Tuesday and will take their discussion to a meeting of Iowa Counties this fall. They think lawmakers will see that counties are not following the old statute and that the price paid for taxpayer funded funerals varies greatly from community to community. They hope that will bring a change to this long forgotten law.