The association 60 million consumers denounces the "ruinous investments" that are funeral insurance contracts subscribed in order to obtain capital to finance his funeral, in a study published Thursday. 60 million consumers have thus screened eleven insurance contracts sold by the main players in the market.
Whatever the amount of the payments, the person receives the capital chosen at the signing of the contract. Result: the contributions far exceed the premium received. On average, a subscriber of 62 years and pays 5.385 euros over twenty years to collect just over 4,000 euros. "The longer we live, the more we risk contributing to lost funds", summarizes 60 million consumers, at a time when funeral expenses have increased more than 8% in three years.
During cremation, the metal of prostheses or IUDs is recovered by companies
In an issue largely devoted to the "business of death", the association also pinpoints the lack of ethics around cremations. For example, precious materials from dentures, teeth or sterilets that do not burn are collected by recycling companies and then sold to various companies for reuse. Two companies, the French EMC and especially the Dutch OrthoMetals share this business.
EMC estimates at between 500,000 and 700,000 euros the 10 to 12 tons of metals recovered each year on which the company takes 20% before handing over the rest to crematoriums who can use the sum as they see fit.
The specifications of the opaque funeral home
Funeral homes are finally also in the collimator of the association, this time for the opacity of some estimates. Many non-mandatory benefits are presented as "current" pushing families to subscribe.
According to a decree of 2010, the mandatory services for a burial remain minimal: a vehicle approved for the transport of the body, a coffin of 22 millimeters thick with a waterproof seal and four handles and the necessary operations for the burial.