Where to Go to Get Yours

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 25, 2001 | by John Elvin

A new Website is being developed to provide information about programs designed to help older Americans with problems related to housing, employment, prescription-drug costs, utility bills and many other items and situations.

BenefitsCheckUp.Com was slated to be up and running in a few weeks when the test site was visited in late May. The site is a project of the National Council on Aging (NCOA), a private consortium of senior centers, faith congregations, consumer organizations and many other concerned groups, as well as professionals in related fields.

An estimated 5 million older Americans don't get the benefits they're entitled to because they don't know about them or don't know how to apply for them. Available benefits range from meals-on-wheels to property-tax exemptions and state prescription-drug programs.

The new site is designed to provide free access to information about all available federal and state programs related to older Americans in one central location. After a year of research, NCOA has put together a database of more than 1,000 programs. BenefitsCheckUp.com will provide information about the programs and ways to assess eligibility, but the actual application will have to go through the appropriate government agency. Ways to contact those agencies are provided.