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DEATH INC.

IN SURPRISING NUMBERS, CHAINS ARE BUYING UP FUNERAL HOMES BUT KEEPING THE NAMES, MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO TELL THE CHAINS FROM THE INDEPENDENTS.

BY ROBIN FIELDS AND MITCH LIPKA STAFF WRITERS

Aileen Watters thought she was dying.

When doctors told the 73-year-old Palm Beach Gardens woman in April that leukemia could kill her within a month, she opened her prayer book -- and her phonebook.

Not wanting the financial burden of her funeral to fall to relatives, Watters started calling local mortuaries from her sickbed. Although she had decided she wanted "the cheapest way to go," the prices only made her feel worse: as much as $1,900 for a cremation, $500 for note cards. With a simple memorial service, the bill came to more than $5,000.

"I was floored," said Watters, who has confounded her doctors by surviving well beyond their predictions. "I said, `Whoa! Stop right there. I'm not interested.'

"I'd rather give my money to charity than be overcharged."

Few consumers know it, but in the past five to 10 years, South Florida's funeral business quietly has shifted from an industry of small, family-owned firms to one dominated by massive conglomerates.

The result: fewer choices and higher prices for the one expense no one can avoid forever.

The world's two largest funeral home chains -- the Loewen Group of Burnaby, British Columbia, and Houston-based Services Corp. International -- now own or are affiliated with 58 percent of the mortuaries in Broward County and 51 percent of those in Palm Beach County. Smaller chains or independent local businesses own the rest.

In Boca Raton, Coral Springs and Lauderhill, virtually all the homes are chain-owned; in Lake Worth and Pompano Beach, chain homes outnumber independents by more than 2-to-1. Because the homes they acquire usually keep their old names, the chains' invasion has blindsided both consumers and regulators, a Florida Senate report concluded in October. Alarmed by the findings, the Legislature is considering a bill that would compel funeral homes to disclose who owns them on ads, signs and contracts.

For consumers, the identity of a funeral home's owner can be a valuable piece of information.

A Sun-Sentinel analysis of prices charged by area funeral homes found that, on average, Loewen and SCI charge up to 62 percent more than independent mortuaries for identical services.

The analysis was done by collecting price lists from licensed funeral homes throughout Broward and Palm Beach counties, and comparing prices charged for services ranging from burial to embalming to shipping a body out of state.

The research found that the simplest cremation typically costs $400 more at a Loewen home and about $600 more at an SCI home than at an independent.

The most basic burial averages $1,251 at an independent, vs. $2,026 at a Loewen mortuary and $1,800 at an SCI mortuary.

Chains say price doesn't tell the whole story. They say their centralized operations and buying power have transformed an antiquated profession, shrouded in morbidity, into an efficient, modern business they call "death care."

"They say we are nothing but a carpetbagging, out-of-town company that takes money from local businesses and sends it to Houston," said Jon Levinson, vice president for SCI's Broward County properties. "Nothing could be further from the truth. We can do all the things any funeral home can do, and more."

SCI, which also owns numerous cemeteries, offers one-stop shopping from initial consultation to burial to grief counseling for survivors, Levinson said.

Loewen officials would not agree to an interview, but in a written statement, the company said it offers a 24-hour "change your mind" policy, a quality-service guarantee and a program for those unable to afford funerals.

Known collectively in the industry as the "Big Three," SCI, Loewen and Stewart Enterprises Inc. of Metairie, La., now hold between 20 percent and 25 percent of the $25 billion U.S. funeral industry.

But unlike other superstores -- from Wal-Mart to Home Depot to Babies 'R Us -- the funeral giants don't deliver discounts, the Sun-Sentinel analysis shows.

And even consumers savvy enough to shop around don't realize when they've called the same company over and over because chain homes aren't obligated to reveal who owns them.

"We are deeply concerned with market power in this industry," said Jeff Kramer, the American Association of Retired Persons' federal legislative representative. "I've seen it happen in the utility industry, where dramatic consolidation has left consumers with no choices. At least disclosure makes consumers aware."

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