IT IS hard to think of a more sensitive subject than funeral costs. That makes the brutal manner in which Liverpool-based Medicash has withdrawn the benefit, leaving thousands of people across Merseyside without money to pay for their funeral, all the more distressing for those concerned.

Medicash said it had been forced into the move by a third party insurer decid- ing not to cover them for funeral costs.

But this will be of scant consolation to policy holders who thought their funeral costs were covered, and who will now have to find the money themselves.

The move also means more than 100,000 members of the healthcare cash plan provider will no longer be entitled to payments towards rehabilitation at home and convalescence.

Once again, it is the most vulnerable members of society who get the roughest end of the deal, when policies which they paid into in good faith are suddenly discontinued.

Letters have been sent to all Medicash members outlining the changes. A clause in the Medicash contract allows the company to change or withdraw services by giving 28 days written notice. Under the Medicash plan, members were entitled to a funeral benefit ranging from £500 to £1,500.

But, in the pitiless logic of insurance companies, anything that threatens the bottom line is a problem that needs to be offloaded as quickly as possible, regardless of the inconvenience it causes to customers, some of whom have paid into the plan for 60 years.

As Southport MP John Pugh points out, it’s a shame Medicash can’t honour something members have been paying into for a number of years.

The company last month also announced plans to close two North Wales care convalescence homes used by thousands of Merseyside members over the years, blaming £1m operating costs and less than 1% of the membership making use of the homes.

In the light of these developments, might not pensioners be better advised to keep their money under their mattress, as the safest place for it?