Inside FEMA’s $1 billion funeral assistance program
As FEMA's funeral reimbursement program reaches a $1 billion milestone, some argue the program goes too far, while others say it isn't enough.
Kelsie Lozano’s grandfather, 71, and her mother, 49, went into the hospital with COVID-19 on July 7, 2020. Neither of them came home. Their deaths mean her family was among the more than 600,000 people who were “permanently marked” by COVID-19, said Lozano, a resident of Pleasanton, Texas. “This isn’t something that is ever going to go away.”
It was also a financial hit. In total, the 30-year-old estimates that her family spent about $7,000 on post-death services for her family members, Massiel and Francisco H. Escalante, who were both cremated and later memorialized in socially distanced services at local churches. Lozano applied for reimbursement of costs related to her mother’s cremation—approximately $3,200 in fees—three days after FEMA’s funeral assistance program started taking applications in April 2021.
She finally received a 100% reimbursement from FEMA this week by direct deposit. “It’s kind of bittersweet,” she told Fortune over the phone as her 8-year-old daughter played beside her. “I would much rather have my mom back.”
