COVID-19 Funeral Financial Assistance Available In Cook County

COOK COUNTY, IL — Financial assistance is available to families who incurred COVID-19 related funeral expenses after Jan. 20, 2020. The assistance is being provided Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the State of Illinois and Cook County.

The CDC estimates more than 21,000 families in Illinois that are eligible for federal funeral reimbursement funding. To date, more than $10.4 million has been approved for the more than 1,500 approved applicants in Illinois.

Cook County residents can apply for FEMA’s COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program by calling 844-684-6333 (TTY: 800-462-7585), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. The application process takes about 20 minutes to complete, and multilingual services are available.

To be eligible for funeral assistance, residents must meet these conditions:

• The death must have occurred in the United States, which includes U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
• The death certificate must indicate the death was attributed to COVID-19.
• The applicant must be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national or qualified alien who incurred funeral expenses after January 20, 2020.
• There is no requirement for the deceased to have been a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national or documented person.

If residents had COVID-19 funeral expenses, they keep receipts and gather documentation. Please note, reimbursement is limited to a maximum of $9,000 per funeral.

Types of information should include:

• An official death certificate that attributes the death directly or indirectly to COVID-19 and shows that the death occurred in the United States, which includes U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
• Funeral expense documents (receipts, funeral home contract, etc.) that includes the applicant’s name, the deceased person’s name, the amount of funeral expenses and the dates the funeral expenses happened.
• Proof of funds received from other sources specifically for use toward funeral costs. We are not able to duplicate benefits received from burial or funeral insurance, financial assistance received from voluntary agencies, government agencies, or other sources.

Eligibility under the FEMA program is limited to those who have death certificates stating that their family member’s death was caused by, “may have been caused by” or “was likely a result of” Covid-19 or Covid-19-like symptoms. The Cook County Medical Examiner has documented over 10,800 deaths since March 16, 2020 attributed to COVID-19. Death certificates issued by the medical examiner indicate COVID-19 as a cause or contributing factor

Those who are eligible for funeral assistance will receive a check by mail or by direct deposit, depending on which option is chosen during the application process. FEMA’s Funeral Assistance Program has controls in place to mitigate fraudulent activity. FEMA will not contact an individual and offer to register them for funeral assistance, nor will FEMA send text notifications to solicit registrations into the program. If you ever doubt a FEMA representative is legitimate, hang up and report it to the FEMA Helpline at 800-321-3362 or the National Center for Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721.

For more information about the COVID-19 Funeral Assistance program, please visit FEMA’s website.