Have you lost someone due to the COVID 19 pandemic? Perhaps some of your employees, friends or relatives have had a death in their household.
Today, I want to share some information with you that I learned from FEMA. It's not specifically health insurance related, but as a benefits consultant, I thought it would be important for you to know, so that you can share with your employees or your colleagues.
We are going to talk about the COVID-19 reimbursement opportunity offered through FEMA. So, this flyer says that if you have lost someone on or after January 20 2020, then you may be eligible for some reimbursement of your out of pocket expenses. Some of the information that we can get reimbursed is, if you're having to do any transportation of the deceased, or if you have purchased a headstone, or marker, or cremation costs. These are all some very expensive items, that you may or may not have been aware that you have the ability to get reimbursed.
Some of the information that we want to talk about regarding this FEMA reimbursement opportunity, is to make sure that you understand that you the death of the deceased must have happened within the United States, must be a citizen of the United States, and have deceased after January 19, 2020. You will have to provide a death certificate during your FEMA reimbursement application that says that the death was due to COVID-19. So, be sure that that is something that's on your death certificate.
All you have to do is contact FEMA, going to disaster assistance.gov or contacting them via their funeral help line listed on the screen 844-684-6333. Or you can visit their website at fema.gov/funeral assistance. But what we're going to be doing is we're going to provide FEMA with the deceased information like social security number, date of birth, and provide the documentation that proves your out of pocket expense for the deceased's funeral and burial services. After that, FEMA is going to decide how much to reimburse you up to about $12,000.
So, I just want to share how important the opportunity for you to get this reimbursement is. I mean, we all know how hard it is to lose a family or a loved one. And having the unexpected out of pocket costs of funeral and burial can really be a big burden on some households. So I wanted to share the information that FEMA has provided, just to make sure it spread awareness so that maybe you can have some relief, financial relief for your loss.
My name is Niki Trentacosta and I help employers shop for and administer employee benefits for their team. And throughout the year I stay in contact with my clients to be their go to resource for employee onboarding and offboarding, implementation, and plan questions. If you are a small business owner, or are looking to implement an employee health care program for your team, I hope that you'll reach out to me at thetannagroup.com or on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I look forward to talking to you and if you do have any questions, be sure to reach out. Otherwise, stay safe. Stay happy. And don't forget to wash your hands. Bye.
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