You asked how much money the Department of Social Services (DSS) paid for burials for indigent people last year.

DSS’s total payments for this purpose in fiscal year (FY) 2002-03 were $ 1,993,445 and for the first half of FY 2003-04, (July to December) the payments totaled $ 865,382, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. These figures include payments under the State Supplement, Temporary Family Assistance, and State-Administered General Assistance (SAGA) programs. Caseload numbers for this category are not available.

When people who are on welfare or otherwise indigent die without enough money in their estates to pay for burial, DSS pays up to $ 1,200 to cover burial expenses. But this amount is reduced by the amount of money in any revocable or irrevocable funeral fund, a prepaid funeral contract, or the face value of the person’s life insurance. For welfare recipients who have some money in their estates, the law allows up to $ 1,200 of the estate to be used for burial expenses before the state claims remaining assets owed it. The law also allows other people to make voluntary contributions to the costs without diminishing the state’s obligation to pay (CGS §17b-84, § 17b-95). If people are only enrolled in Medicaid and not cash assistance, but do not have enough money for a funeral, the state pays up to the $ 1,200 using SAGA program funds.

CGS § 42-207 limits irrevocable funeral contracts for any Connecticut residents to no more than $ 5,400. The amount in a revocable contract is not limited for ordinary residents, but if they later need to apply for Medicaid or other welfare and fail to establish an irrevocable account, the state can claim funds above $ 1,200 in the revocable account on their death. By contrast, the state cannot claim has no claim on the money in an irrevocable account.

HN: ts