What does the government pay for?
Burial Benefits: Effective July 7, 2014: VA is changing its monetary burial benefits regulations to simplify the program and pay eligible survivors more quickly and efficiently. These regulations will authorize VA to pay, without a written application, most eligible surviving spouses basic monetary burial benefits at the maximum amount authorized in law through automated systems rather than reimbursing them for actual cost incurred.
Under the current regulations. VA pays for burial and funeral expenses on a reimbursements basis, which requires survivors to submit receipts to relatively small one-time payments that VA generally pays at the maximum amount permitted by law.
The new burial regulations will permit VA to pat, at a flat rate, burial and plot or interment allowances thereby enabling VA to automat payment of burial benefits to most eligible surviving spouses and more efficiently process other burial benefit claims. Source: VA.Gov