Protest Slams Washington Jewish Funeral Home Merger — Fear Higher Costs
Standing in front of an empty coffin carrying signs reading “I can’t afford to die,” leaders of the Washington D.C. Jewish community staged a protest outside the offices of the Federal Trade Commission urging it to block expected rate hikes following a planned merger of two funeral conglomerates.
“Our point of concern is that the merger between the first and second largest funeral companies will leave Jews in the Washington area with no inexpensive burial option,” said Ron Halber, director of the Greater Washington Jewish Community Relations Committee.
At issue is the planned $1.4 billion acquisition of Steward Enterprise, the nation’s second largest funeral services provider, by Service Corporation International (SCI) who has the largest market share. If the merger goes through, SCI will control all of the Washington area Jewish funeral services, thus, activists fear, having the ability to raise prices for Jewish burial.
The greatest impact would be on the Hines-Rinaldi non-sectarian funeral home in Silver Spring which is now owned by Steward. The home had been offering for years a low cost Jewish funeral option for less than $2000, based on a contract it signed with the Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington.
It also allowed Jewish families to wait until the end of the 30 days of mourning before making payments. Cost of Jewish burial at other funeral homes is around $5,000.
Under the merger agreement SCI agreed to keep the lower price option for a year, but to set prices by market value after that. Washington area activists, supported by local lawmakers, are now calling on the FTC to listen to the concerns of the community and to exempt Hines-Rinaldi from the merger.
“Why can’t there be one funeral home that is not owned by SCI?” asked Halber. “Where are the consumer’s rights?”
The FTC met with members of the Jewish community last month and has yet to make a decision regarding their request. The Hines-Rinaldi funeral home performs around 230 Jewish funerals a year.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO