Policy papers and research

FCA's response to the Federal Trade Commission's request for comments on updating the Funeral Rule. We asked the FTC to:

—require all funeral homes with websites to post their complete price and service lists online

—mandate that funeral homes tell consumers the true, all-inclusive cost of cremation

—clarify Funeral Rule language so that consumers understand their rights to decline embalming and to buy simple, no-ceremony burials

A joint study by FCA and Consumer Federation of America.

In brief:

-Only 18 percent of funeral homes surveyed post their price lists online
-All funeral homes who post are named in the appendix by city
-Consumers surveyed for this study support a mandate for funeral homes to post their price lists online

This guide, co-written with home funeral educator and advocate Lee Webster, is for any family or official interested in learning about undertaker-free, family-directed funerals at home.

It explains that they are usually legal, and notes the minority of states that make it difficult or impossible.

This guide is helpful in educating coroners, vital statistics administrators, hospitals, hospices, and other organizations that may not know family-directed funerals are legal.

This paper raises questions about the most effective and appropriate ways to assist families with funeral-related expenses. It offers a consumer advocacy perspective to policy makers considering such reimbursement programs, questions they are not likely to encounter if consulting only with funeral industry sources.

A 2021 survey of the websites of all the state funeral regulatory agencies. The survey looks at what consumer information these state agency sites provide, and grades them on a scale of A to F for consumer helpfulness. The majority of states did poorly.