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ICFA Responds to Virginian-Pilot
Anti-Preneed Series
On September 4 the ICFA sent the following letter to the editor of The Virginian-Pilot in response to a series of articles advising readers against prefinancing their funeral arrangements.
September 4, 2001
VIA FAX
Letters to the Editor
The Virginian-Pilot
P.O. Box 449
Norfolk, VA 23501-0449
Re: "The Business of Death"
Dear Editor:
Your recent three-part series, "The Business of Death," was devoted more to frightening your readers with anecdotes than providing them with "news you can use" in the planning of funeral and burials. The fact is that cars, college tuition, even wedding receptions, are more expensive than most funerals - and usually receive more thoughtful attention than funerals. Yet as one of the most important end-of-life issues that all of us must deal with, together with retirement income planning, long-term care, and estate planning, many people prefer just not to think about it. Your series of articles did little to persuade readers to give their funeral plans some priority.
Instead, the articles focused on the fact that the funeral services industry "makes money" and provided a forum for industry critics, including one "do-it-yourself" funeral advocate, to bash the profession. Funerals and burials do cost money and always have. The good news is that consumers have more options today than ever to save money from both traditional and non-traditional providers. But your readers will be discouraged from contacting anyone when your newspaper all but convinces them that they will be exploited the minute they call a funeral home or cemetery for information.
Critics are quoted and their statements go unchallenged. For example, you correctly report that AARP advises consumers not to prepay their funerals but instead to save on their own. For years, we have urged AARP to warn consumers of the all-too-common scenario in which funds placed aside for funeral expenses are depleted to pay for the costs of the final illness, leaving nothing for the funeral. AARP will not acknowledge that this problem exists but continues to discourage prepayment. Had your researchers contacted any of the industry trade associations for a national perspective, we could have helped place a number of issues such as this one into a more realistic context. As it is, your readers would never know that there are over 5,500 funerals and burials each day in the United States, over two million a year, with an extremely low documented complaint rate. Funeral preplanning, including prepayment, resolves many more problems than it causes.
Very truly yours,
Robert M. Fells
External Chief Operating Officer
and General Counsel
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