Some Opposition MPs want the government to increase the funeral grant under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to $60,000 to meet current funeral costs.

According to Ruddy Spencer, who represents South-east Clarendon in the Parliament, he has had to bury 14 persons over the last month in his constituency. He called on the minister to look carefully to see whether or not the $40,000 grant could not be upgraded.

"At funeral homes in Jamaica, especially rural Jamaica, the cheapest package is $59,000," said Spencer. "So I am asking government, if they really want to do something and assist in some meaningful way, this $40,000 has to move to $60,000."

The grant was raised from $30,000 to $40,000 in the latest round of increases in NIS pension benefits which were announced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday by Labour Minister Horace Dalley.

North Central Clarendon MP Pearnel Charles suggested that the minister should use some of the $42.5-billion, which he announced was in the National Insurance Fund, to pay for the increased grant.
"There is no funeral home, that I know, that will bury anybody for $40,000 or even $50,000," said Charles. "I am appealing for an amendment to that clause, make it at least $65,000."

Another Opposition MP, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, said that she had actually called the Poor Relief office in Spanish Town for some figures.
She said that it costs $25,000 just to prepare a vault at the public cemetery in Church Pen. She said that when the costs of the coffin and transportation were added, it was obvious that $40,000 was too inadequate for a funeral grant.

"I appreciate the government's limitation, but I do not want us to fool ourselves that $40,000 can give someone a good burial," she said.
She also called on the minister of finance to remove the GCT on coffins.
"That helps to increase the cost for burial and it is unfair, it is unkind and it is heartless and I ask that you review that," she said.

But Opposition spokesman on education, Andrew Holness, said that even with $42.5 billion in the National Insurance Fund, and projections that it will reach $60 billion in four years, the minister has to be frugal in how he handles the funds, in view of the fact that the Jamaican population is slowly aging and life expectancy was increasing.

Holness said that the aging and life expectancy situations also required that the government starts looking at promoting voluntary contributions from persons who were either self-employed, or are receiving money through remittances.

"Regardless of whether or not they contribute, they will need medical attention and they will need to survive like anyone else," Holness said. "I am sure that in the next 40 years it will become a concern to government that they will have to use contributed funds to deal with those non-contributors."

"The minister needs to start to push the voluntary contributions for those persons who are not working now in their youthful lives, get remittances from abroad or earn from the informal sector, so that they can buy into the scheme even if they are not working," he said.

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