NCOA Helps Pandemic-Impacted Older Adults Boost Their Budgets

ARLINGTON, Va., April 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Council on Aging (NCOA), the national voice for every person's right to age well, is joining hundreds of partners nationwide to celebrate Boost Your Budget Week from April 12-16, 2021. The outreach campaign connects struggling older adults to billions in federal, state, and local benefits to help them age with health and financial security. 

"Before the pandemic, many older adults, especially women and people of color, had to cut the amount of food on their tables and the medicine in their cupboards just to keep a roof over their heads," said NCOA President and CEO Ramsey Alwin. "The pandemic has made things even worse. This is not acceptable in the richest country in the world. Boost Your Budget Week is a coordinated effort with our local partners to help vulnerable older adults find the resources they need. We believe aging well is something every American deserves—regardless of gender, color, sexuality, income, or zip code."  

The campaign drives older adults and caregivers to use NCOA's free online screening tool available in both English and Spanish—BenefitsCheckUp.org and BuscaBeneficios.org. Visitors enter basic information and receive a personalized report of programs they may be eligible for to help pay for food, medicine, utilities, and other daily needs. The tool screens for more than 2,500 benefits, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps), the Medicare Low-Income Subsidy, Medicare Savings Programs, and tax relief. Since 2001, 9.4 million people have used BenefitsCheckUp^® to find over $39.5 billion in benefits.

NCOA is partnering with 17 organizations nationwide to implement the campaign in rural and urban communities serving Black, Latino, Asian, and LGBTQ older adults. These local agencies are part of NCOA's national network of Benefits Enrollment Centers, funded through the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL).

"Every year billions of dollars in benefits go unclaimed because eligible older adults do not apply—mostly because they are unaware that these benefits exist and that they qualify for them," said Josh Hodges, NCOA Chief Customer Officer. "Every person has the right to age in their community with dignity and economic security—and having access to benefits can make all the difference, even more so during a global pandemic." 

To start a free benefits screening, visit www.ncoa.org/Boost.

This project was supported, in part, by grant #90MINC0002-01-01from the U.S. Administration on Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services, Washington DC 20201. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official Administration for Community Living policy.

About NCOA  
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is the national voice for every person's right to age well. We believe that how we age should not be determined by gender, color, sexuality, income, or zip code. Working with thousands of national and local partners, we provide resources, tools, best practices, and advocacy to ensure every person can age with health and financial security. Founded in 1950, we are the oldest national organization focused on older adults. Learn more at www.ncoa.org and @NCOAging.  

SOURCE National Council on Aging