Preneed: A Pandora's Box of Problems
The State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors gave notice last week of hearings to be held in June regarding proposals made to correct or revise SB1.
If the Board follows the course taken in meetings held earlier this year, the proposals will likely be published to the Board’s website. These postings will provide Missouri…
Give the State Board credit for attempting to clarify how insurance assignments must be handled for compliance with Missouri laws.
For several months, the State Board has sought clarifications from MO HealthNet regarding spend-downs. On May 12th, the Board emailed to the industry new MO HealthNet guidelines for insurance assignments. One day later, the legislature…
For more than 20 years, Nebraska preneed sellers have filed an annual report that accounts for the aggregate contributions and distributions from their trust funds. The annual report form also computes the amount of income that must be accrued to the account if the seller elects to withdraw excess income from the trust. In its…
Missouri’s funeral industry has been given 30 days to submit proposals for revisions to the preneed law that went into effect last August 28th. By email, the State Board has provided the guidelines for submitting changes that will then be discussed by the Board at public hearings to be held in June. The Board has…
The General Laws Committee of the Missouri Senate will hold a hearing this Wednesday (April 7th) on SB 1025. This bill provides hope to many small, rural funeral directors who would rather avoid the preneed transaction and the regulatory morass of SB1.
The bill would add a new Section 208.010.5 whereby individuals seeking to…
The fear of SB1 drove the Missouri cemetery industry to push for Chapter 214 legislation in 2009, only to have the wheels come off at the stroke of midnight last May. While legislation was passed, the original bill was gutted, and the resulting changes were incoherent and confusing. It was no surprise that the industry…
NPS salesmen had quite a reputation. Commission driven, some were reported to have earned a healthy six-figure salary. And, some had no prior experience in the funeral industry.
To curb the excesses committed by NPS salesmen, Missouri preneed reform bill requires preneed salesmen to be licensed, with a condition that they “have successfully passed the…
Regulators in Missouri and Kansas will be pursuing legislation this spring for more authority in providing oversight to cemeteries. With its Burr Oak problems, Illinois can’t be too far behind.
Whether it is the economy or the unscrupulous owner, regulators are finding they lack both the expertise and authority to properly protect the cemetery consumer.…
Implementing new regulatory requirements is a difficult and thankless job. Businesses hate change when it comes to government interference, and (most) regulators understand this. Accordingly, regulators typically prefer to implement incremental changes. In contrast to other industries, regulatory changes have been less frequent within the death care industry because legislators and regulators don’t understand the…
The future of Missouri’s examination of preneed books and records will begin to take shape on February 4th. The State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has put this issue at the top of its agenda for Thursday’s meeting.
Regulatory review of Missouri’s preneed industry has been dormant for almost 15 years, and SB1 now…