Speaker 1: In today's video, we're going to talk about everything from free food boxes to free rides to property tax discounts. We have got a lot of ground to cover today, so be sure to stick around. Let's start with the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. I get questions about this every time I mention it, so I've wanted to talk to you about this for a while. It provides extra food to low income seniors who are at least 60 years old with the goal of supporting senior nutrition. This is a supplemental program, so it won't provide all the foods you need. However, you can receive monthly food boxes that contain special nutritional supplements like fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, peanut butter, legumes, and more. In order to be eligible for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, you must be at least 60 years old and have a household income that is 130% or less of the federal poverty level. In order to get your food box, you need to contact your state distributing agency. I can't list them all here, but you can find yours by going to fns.usda.gov and clicking your state on the map or the state name underneath the map. If you prefer, you can call T-1-1 or your state's social services department for additional instructions. Programs like this are incredibly important right now because one in four Americans over the age of 65 are cutting corners on food, utilities, clothing, or medication because of rising healthcare costs. This is something we've seen in our comments too, where we get these heartbreaking stories from seniors who are making tough decisions between their medications and their food or their food and their rent, and it wrecks me every time. Now, at the same time, only half of all seniors who are eligible for SNAP are getting those benefits. The government estimates that there are five million seniors in this country who could be getting help with food, but aren't. That's about 6.3 billion dollars worth of food benefits that go unclaimed every year. SNAP is short for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is the new name for food stamps. When you get SNAP, you get a monthly food allowance on an EBT card, and it works a lot like a debit card, except you can only use it to purchase eligible food items. In order to be eligible for SNAP, you must meet income and asset limits. Now, if you are over 60 years old or disabled, you're more likely to be eligible due to some special rules. You don't have to meet the gross income limits. They only care about your net income, which is how much money you bring in after certain deductions are removed. There are certain standard deductions that always count for everyone, and then there's also deductions for your shelter costs and medical costs and other things. These deductions can make a huge impact on what they consider your income to be and how much you can get in food assistance. Now, typically, your income has to be around 100 percent of the federal poverty level after these deductions, but that's not always the case. Some states set that limit much higher. In some states, it's almost double. Seniors can also use something called an ESAP application. That stands for Elderly Simplified Application Project. These applications are a lot shorter and easier to use. It also lets you keep your food stamps longer because you only have to do paperwork once every two to three years instead of every six months. A lot of states have ESAP applications for seniors now, so I highly recommend looking into that if you are eligible. Applying for SNAP is pretty easy. You can usually do it online. You just need to go to your state's social services website to start that application. Another great program that can help seniors with food is the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. This program can help you get free locally grown fruits and vegetables, honey, herbs, and more. Every year, this program gives away free food vouchers, which are basically coupons to eligible seniors. You can take those coupons to your local farmers market or your favorite farm stand and exchange them for free food. It's really easy. Now, in order to be eligible for these vouchers, you must be at least 60 years old and have a household income that is 185 percent or less of the federal poverty level. To get them, you need to contact your state agency in charge. They usually start distributing these checks in early summer, and there's a lot of different agencies that manage this. If you subscribe to our channel and watch our weekly resource roundups, I'll make sure to let you know when the checks are available in your area and what you need to do to get them. Now, one of the most common complaints that we hear lately is about transportation. When you don't have a reliable vehicle or a way to get from one place to another, it can be really hard to take advantage of some of these programs. After all, farmers market vouchers don't really help you if you can't get to the market to use them, right? Fortunately, there is a lot of transportation assistance programs that can help you. A lot of urban areas offer special transportation programs for seniors. For example, seniors in the Seattle area who are at least 55 years old can order a ride from the Hyde Shuttle. They'll take you to run errands in King County, whether you need to go grocery shopping or want to go to the senior center or need to do something else. They also have volunteers that can help you get to essential health care appointments too. In rural areas, there are still options. Many senior centers offer shuttles and transportation services for people in their area. You can also call your area agency on aging to see if they're aware of any other transportation help in your area. If you have Medicaid, the state is required to help you with transportation to get to and from your appointments as well. This is called non-emergency medical transportation. You have to contact your Medicaid office to coordinate those rides. Speaking of medical assistance, there are about 2 million eligible seniors nationwide who aren't signed up for extra help. This is a Medicare program that can help lower your out-of-pocket costs for your medications. The Social Security Administration estimates that this program can help you save around $5,300 per person every year. Extra help is also called the low-income subsidy. It covers part of the cost of Part D prescription drug plans. It can help you cover the premium, deductible, and co-pays. It can also waive the late enrollment penalty and more. In order to be eligible, you must already have Medicare Part A or B. You have to live in the United States and meet income limits. The full subsidy is available for people who earn up to 150% of the federal poverty level, which means that you won't have to pay for the deductible or premium plan. You'll pay no more than $11.20 for each name brand drug that is covered, and you won't pay more than $4.50 for each generic. If you spend more than $8,000 a year on out-of-pocket medication costs, you don't have to pay any more co-pays above that. Now let's talk about those Medicare savings programs for a minute. There are somewhere between 1 and 3 million eligible seniors who are missing out on these too. There are four different plans. At the minimum, they can pay for your Part B premiums. Some of them can even help pay for your deductibles, co-insurance, and co-pays as well. The National Council on Aging says enrolling in one of these programs could save you over $2,000 a year. In order to qualify for a Medicare savings plan, you must have Medicare Part A. You also need to meet your state's income and asset limits. Those asset limits vary by state. To apply, you need to contact your state's Medicaid agency directly. If you prefer, you can call your state's health insurance assistance program for guidance and instructions as well. You can find the number for your agency by calling 877-839-2675. Now we've started hearing from a lot of seniors who are having a hard time keeping their homes due to soaring property tax rates, so I also want you to know about some programs that can help you with your property taxes too. Many states offer exemptions or deferral programs for low-income seniors. For example, Washington state has a property tax relief program for people who are at least 61 years old and earn 70% or less of the county median income. If you qualify, it can drastically reduce the cost of your property taxes and you could even receive a refund check for up to three years of passed over payments. This particular program also covers disabled veterans, so my husband and I were able to get this discount and a refund check as well. It is incredibly helpful and I highly recommend it. It's not just in Washington either. There are many states that have property tax exemptions and deferral programs for low-income seniors. You can contact your local legal aid organization or your county assessor's office for details. Now while we're talking about housing, I also want to mention some home repair programs that may be able to help you. There are home repair and modification programs that can help you improve your home, make it more energy efficient, which reduces your utility costs, or even more safe for you to live in. I've seen programs that can do everything from add insulation to your attic to build a wheelchair ramp for your front door. There are a lot of options out there. In fact, I recently covered one in Texas that will completely rebuild your home. My team and I spend a lot of time researching these programs. You can get a full list of what we found in your area on our website at lowincomerelief.com and you can follow our channel for those weekly live updates where we talk more about this. If you need help with specific legal needs like estate planning, there are resources that can help you as well. Many legal aid offices have started hosting estate planning clinics where they can help you create a will, set up a medical power of attorney, or do other paperwork that could benefit you. These programs also vary widely by state, but it's something we report on in our weekly resource recaps. So if you're interested in learning more about that, make sure that you are subscribed to this channel with notifications enabled. And finally, the Eldercare Locator by the U.S. Administration on Aging is a great resource that all low income seniors need to know about. You can call them at 800-667-1116 to find more ways to get help with everything from housing to caregiving. Again, that number is 800-667-1116 for the Eldercare Locator. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to check out our other video about low income senior grants. I'll see you there.