Funeral Changes Proposed

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Minnesota lawmakers are looking at ways to save you money on funeral costs.  It's a proposal that would also give you more choices as your family prepares to say goodbye to a loved one. 

"You don't have to be embalmed if you're buried or cremated within 72 hours," says Tim Macken, owner of Macken Funeral Home in Rochester.

Now the Minnesota Legislature may extend that three-day window to four days. Lawmakers are looking at a bill that would also allow people to display a deceased body in a home. The idea is make funeral costs less expensive.

"We have it happen a lot where a person was going be cremated and prior to the cremation a family would then gather all their people around then in the home where the body is," says Macken.

Macken says embalming is a process where the body is injected with a preservative. Officials at Macken Funeral Home say 50 percent of funerals involve the embalming process, but they say the proposal won't hurt their business. 

"People are now doing their own funerals anyway and they want to use funeral homes now for that because they don't have a church," says Macken.

Father Timothy Reker of St. Francis of Assisi says up to 75 percent of funerals involved embalming, but he's never heard of anyone in his parish displaying a body in their home prior to burial or cremation.

"I think even perhaps in other countries today, they would do that but in the United States it’s not that common anymore."
Tim Macken says,"I think anytime the body is present for any kind of funeral, that's a positive thing."

We're told the average cost of a funeral is around $10,000.  The embalming process alone can cost up to $1,000.  We've also just learned the bill was passed by the health committee today and now goes to the floor of the house.The senate is considering a similar measure.