Would you pay for your own funeral? These people did

It sounds like a morbid thing to do, however, people have taken out insurance to cater for their funerals or those of loved ones. They say it helps with funeral arrangements and saves everyone the time and hustle

It is Isabirye, however, who sounds most unafraid. He lets me know his decision has nothing to do with superstition and omen. “It is planning for an eventuality and it does not mean we are afraid of death or are giving unnecessary thought. It is just preparation for something we know will happen sooner or later,” he says. “Okwelinda si butii!”

HOW IT WORKS

According to Martin Mwanga, sales executive at A Plus funeral services, pre planning packages come in two types, one in the form of funeral insurance and the other, a benefit/emergency funds scheme.

Funeral Insurance Package
Insurance comes on different levels with different packages, age and the place of burial determining the premium one pays. At A Plus services, the cheapest package is Shs1.5m and covers casket, embalming fees, pall bearer transport, radio death announcements as well as medical bill left by the beneficiary that is not more than Shs250,000.The executive package worth Shs10m improves on other packages by including other services like tents and video coverage. “It pretty much covers for everything,” says Mwanga.

He explains how he arrives at a premium for the specific packages. I compute age of the person as well as the burial place from the preferred package and come up with a premium unique to that person. “For example a 20-year-old whose burial place is in Masaka will pay a lower premium than an 80-year-old who will be buried in Kabale,” says Mwanga.

He continues, “Anyone below the age of 85 is eligible for funeral insurance including terminally ill patients as long as the person does not die within three months since registering.” However the funeral company will pay the full cover incase the person dies an accidental death if a person dies before the three month window period is over.

The benefit emergency funds scheme
This one involves depositing money from time to time with the funeral company, money which will then be turned into funeral services should you lose a loved one. “This is different because you get to choose when to use it,” says Mwanga who also lists credit services as well as discounts as the perks that come with this scheme. Jagwe who had taken out this scheme says this is the better bet for younger people.

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