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NCOA Week Published by The National Council on the Aging, Inc.

News & Information for Community Service Organizations

New Online Service Helps Seniors, Caregivers Access Hundreds of Public Benefits Programs

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2001 -- More than five million seniors are currently missing out on hundreds of state and federal benefits programs, but a new Web site launched today by the National Council on the Aging can help.

BenefitsCheckUp.org is the first of its kind, web-based service designed to help seniors, their families and caregivers find the right benefits programs to meet their needs. Starting today, the site contains a fast, free and confidential screening tool to determine eligibility for nearly 1,000 unique state and federal programs and provide detailed instructions on how to apply for them.

More than three million seniors are eligible for, but do not receive food stamps; 1.2 million elderly are eligible for but do not participate in the Supplemental Security Income program and as many as 3 million eligible seniors do not participate in Medicaid. According to the NCOA, 29 states have underutilized pharmacy assistance programs. Many middle- and upper-income seniors are also missing out on Veteran's programs, property tax relief, nutrition programs and educational benefits.

"Every day, millions of seniors are missing out on benefits programs that can provide help with health care, transportation, income support, meals and many other important needs," says NCOA President James Firman, Ed.D. "Now, finding out what programs you qualify for and how to take advantage of them is available to anyone, anytime, anywhere…thanks to the power of the Internet."

The NCOA brought together several corporations and foundations including AOL Time Warner, Inc., New York Life, Lucent Technologies, the Merck Company Foundation and the Archstone Foundation to make BenefitsCheckUp available as a free service to the public. The U.S. National Institute on Aging helped fund the development of the program. The website is hosted by AOL's GovernmentGuide and is powered by Vital Aging.

"BenefitsCheckUp is a shining example of how a public and private partnership can make life easier for seniors and their families," says Firman. "NCOA will be working with many national organizations, such as AARP and Catholic Charities USA, as well as many federal and state government agencies, to help seniors learn about this service and to assist them with obtaining benefits they may have missed."

According to a study recently released by America Online, over 70 percent of older Americans now go online to do information searches for themselves and their families.

"Today, older Americans are logging onto the Internet to keep in touch with friends and family and to find valuable information and resources," said Kathy Bushkin, President, AOLTime Warner Foundation. "We are proud to be able to offer older Americans and their caregivers access to BenefitsCheckup.org. This new site will help improve the quality of life for so many families and seniors by making it faster and easier to find the support they need."

Seniors or members of their family can fill out a confidential questionnaire at BenefitsCheckUp.org which then compares their information with eligibility requirements for federal programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Weatherization or state administered programs such as pharmacy assistance, vocational rehabilitation and in-home services. Users then receive a printable report that tells them which programs they may likely qualify for and where to go to enroll.

"This service will greatly help the 1 in 4 American families involved in caregiving and will also help the millions of employees who must take time off to find care and services for an aging parent or spouse," says NCOA Chair Molly Mettler who is also senior vice president of Boise, ID-based Healthwise, Inc. "What used to take days or even weeks to find out, BenefitsCheckUp can do in minutes."

In order to ensure that seniors have wide access to BenefitsCheckUp, NCOA has launched a four-year mobilization effort involving a powerful coalition of national organizations and as many as 2,000 community groups nationwide to spread the word and provide outreach, screening and follow-up services. Model programs have already begun in Chicago, and the states of Colorado and Rhode Island and several more communities are expected to sign up within the next few months.

To find BenefitsCheckUp online, simply enter www.benefitscheckup.org in your web browser. AOL subscribers can use the keyword BenefitsCheckUp.

December 26, 2000

Congress Passes, Clinton Signs Housing Bill To Help Seniors President Clinton has signed H.R. 5640, the American Home Ownership and Economic Opportunity Act, one of the last measures passed by the 106^th Congress. It includes provisions to strengthen the Section 202 elderly housing program. The broad banking and housing bill will provide greater flexibility to provide supportive services to residents and will authorize ongoing conversions of some apartments in senior housing projects to assisted living to better serve residents aging in place.

LTC Education Programs Sought

NCOA is collaborating with several national partners under a Health Care Financing Administration initiative on Long Term Care. As part of the formative research effort we are conducting a scan of community service organizations to identify Long Term Care educational programming. We are particularly interested in locating LTC programs that conduct education workshops and seminars, provide counseling, assist in personal risk appraisal, and provide information and referral activities. If you conduct, host, or know of such a program please contact Marie.Squillace@NCOA.org. Thank you.

NISC Outreach

NCOA’s NISC unit is reaching out to provide continuing education to its members. NISC Director Constance Todd visited New York City and Long Island, NY this month to present two workshops on "Outreach: Planning for All Populations." She is expected to present to six other audiences in various cities throughout New York in early 2001. One of every four older American lives in NY, FL or CA.

Health on the Web

Last week we reported on the Spry Foundation’s upcoming forum on using the Web for health information. Another excellent source of guidance is "Finding Reliable Consumer Health Information on the Internet," a special report prepared by NCOA Librarian Janette Hoisington and published in this month’s United Seniors Health Report.

More info: http://www.unitedseniorshealth.org/html/inter_01.html New Report on Aging Baby Boomers in the Workforce A new Department of Labor report presents information about the baby boom generation, its demographic and workforce characteristics and how it’s affecting employment and training programs. The report is intended to help the aging network better serve older workers in the new one-stop career centers.

More info: Fax 202-501-2135, attn. David Richardson

NCOA Week is published by The National Council on the Aging, Inc., www.ncoa.org Your contributions and comments are welcome. Please address them to: ncoa.week@ncoa.org or fax to 1 800 779-0816. Copyright © 2000 Articles may be reprinted with proper attribution.