The Department of Human Services (DHS) will pay for burial if the deceased person qualifies for burial and does not have sufficient resources for funeral costs.
55 Pa. Code § 283.1 55 Pa. Code § 283.3
The maximum DHS payment is $750. DHS will not pay for burial if the total value of countable resources is $1,500 or more. To determine the amount of the payment, add the value of resources contributed by an agency or person. See Section 890.4, Processing a Request for Payment.
The DHS payment goes directly to the funeral director. The resources reported by the funeral director plus the DHS burial payment must be the entire bill for burial services. The funeral director may not accept payment from any other source to supplement the burial payment.
NOTE: The term “burial” also includes cremation if that is the service provided.
Funeral directors must:
Provide services for burial using commonly accepted funeral practices;
Follow professional and vocational standards;
Follow Federal Trade Commission requirements; and
Have a written agreement with the representative of the deceased which includes provisions for how the DHS payment will be dispersed
55 Pa. Code § 283.11 49 Pa. Code Chapter 13 16 CFR Part 453 63 P.S. §§ 479.1–479.20
Burial expenses may be paid for a deceased person who was:
1. Eligible and authorized for cash assistance at the time of death. Cash assistance includes:
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or General Assistance (GA), including zero cash payment cases;
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), including recipients receiving SSI while in a Long Term Care (LTC) facility or institution;
State Supplementary Payment (SSP);
Title IV-E Placement Maintenance (Category PC, program status code 31).
NOTE: Migrant farm workers and their family members are eligible if they meet any of the cash payment criteria.
2. A former cash recipient whose benefits were discontinued due to hospitalization and who died while in the hospital or within three months of the date of admission.
NOTE: This includes a person whose cash assistance (TANF, GA, SBP or SSI) was discontinued because of institutionalization and who died within three months from the admission date. This applies to institutionalization in a nursing home, assisted living facility or an inpatient psychiatric facility.
NOTE: A person whose cash assistance is discontinued due to imprisonment and who dies while incarcerated does not qualify for a burial payment regardless of the begin date for the imprisonment.
3. A cash recipient’s stillborn child or child who died so soon after birth that assistance could not be authorized.
4. A member of a cash recipient’s family if the following conditions are met:
The deceased person formerly received assistance with the family.
The deceased person was living with the family at the time of death.
The deceased person was planning to apply to be added to the assistance unit or the recipient had plans to apply for the person, and
The person would have been eligible, but died before cash assistance could be authorized.
5. A person who was receiving payment toward the cost of Long Term Care (LTC) prior to January 1, 1973, and has continuously received LTC since that time.
These conditions apply even if the person did not die in Pennsylvania.
A person must meet at least one of the above criteria to be eligible for a burial payment.
Revised April 29, 2019 Replacing July 30, 2013