If you’re looking for free local resources to help older adults, your local Area Agency on Aging is a great place to begin. Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) develop, coordinate and deliver aging services throughout the country. They serve people over 60 at every income level. In fact, they help more than eight million people a year with long-term care choices, transportation options, benefits information and caregiver issues. You can find them in almost every community.
Most Area Agencies on Aging are also Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs). ADRCs provide a hub for information on long-term services and supports to help older adults, their caregivers and families; they work to ensure that older adults are better able to live alone in their homes for as long as possible. They are government agencies that work to meet people’s long-term care needs.
To contact your local Area Agency on Aging for free local resources for older adults or simply to understand available benefits, call the Eldercare Locator 800.677.1116. The Eldercare Locator is a program of the Administration on Community Living. You can also visit the website at www.eldercare.gov.
LeadingAge, an association of 6,000 community-based non-profit organizations in the U.S., offers another great resource. It has developed on online tool to help you locate non-profit agencies, agencies that “put people before profits,” that provide services and living facilities for older adults.
By entering a zip code or city, LeadingAge’s Aging Services Directory will let you know about non-profit resources in the community. You can choose from a list of 18 resources, including nursing, transportation, home-delivered meals and dementia care. You can also learn about retirement communities, assisted living, and subsidized housing.
And, if you need help navigating Medicare, you should contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program or SHIP. For the number of the SHIP in your area, click here. Or, for free help, call the Medicare Rights Center national hotline at 800-333-4114. For other free and low-cost services for older adults, check out Just Care’s Get Help page.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- To make sure you’re not paying more than you need for your care, here are six tips for keeping your drug costs down if you have Medicare.
- Here are two tips for keeping your emergency care costs down.
- Here are four tips for keeping your health plan costs down, whether you have Medicare or have commercial health insurance.
