The National Council on Aging

A person has to be age sixty-five or older in order to be eligible to receive many retirement benefits. However, some benefits are available to those as young as age sixty. The National Council on Aging helps you find them.

About the National Council on Aging

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of older adults. It offers a helpful screening service that will help you find and enroll in federal, state, local and private programs that help pay for prescription drugs, utility bills, meals, health care and other needs. The Benefits Checkup website, a free service of the NCOA, is especially helpful if you live in a different state than your parents, as it searches thousands of programs by state and gives you local contact information.

Getting started

Go to benefitscheckup.org and take 10-15 minutes to complete their questionnaire which asks for basic information on your parent, including income, all of which remains confidential.

Once you’ve entered the data, the “Benefits Checkup” will search thousands of benefits against your parent’s information. Within seconds, you’ll receive a benefits “Eligibility Report” for your parent. The report will include all of the information that you will need to contact the local agency to determine whether or not your parent actually qualifies for the benefit. You will be given local names, addresses and toll-free phone numbers, along with application forms that you simply download and send in to the appropriate agency. This resource is a great timesaver, so if you don’t have Internet access, it’s worth a trip to the library to get online.

The NCOA website also allows you to apply for Medicare’s “Extra Help Prescription Drug Coverage” for people with lower incomes who qualify for Medicare Part D co-payments. If your parents can’t afford to keep good food on the table, they can apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or “SNAP,” formally known as the Food Stamp Program.

Area Agency on Aging

The Area Agency on Aging (AAA) is another valuable resource for advice on what services are available and if your parents qualify. You can find your parents’ local AAA by calling the Eldercare Locator at 1.800.677.1116. To learn more on Area Agencies on Aging, click here.