News

Protest Slams Washington Jewish Funeral Home Merger — Fear Higher Costs

Image by ron sachs

By Nathan Guttman November 20, 2013

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.

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO