Thousands of older adults in Arizona are not getting the benefits, like food stamps, that they’re entitled to. That’s according to new data from a national aging organization.
The NCOA released an interactive map this week that shows, nationally, 9 million people 65 and older are eligible for programs like SNAP, which is the supplemental nutrition assistance program. That includes thousands of Arizonans.
"Seventeen-and-a-half percent are enrolled in the SNAP program. There's actually 250,000+ individuals that are eligible but not enrolled in that benefit," said Jennifer Teague with the National Council on Aging in Virginia.
There are two other programs, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicare Savings Programs that thousands of Arizonans are also eligible but not enrolled in.
"There's multiple reasons why people don't apply. Some of it is stigma. Some of it is that assumption that I want to leave it for somebody else to utilize."
And then there’s the application process, which can be time consuming and complex.
Most of those individuals are in Maricopa County.
"So for SNAP specifically, there's 123,085 individuals over older adults that are eligible for SNAP but not enrolled in the program."
2 Arizona organizations that enroll older adults in benefits:
- Aster Aging, Inc. (FKA East Valley Adult Resources, Inc.) (Mesa)
- Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. (Phoenix)
Barriers to benefit enrollment:
- State benefit websites often lack a comprehensive list of programs to apply for at one time, such as Medicaid, food assistance and home energy assistance.
- Few applications cater to older adults. Most focus on children and families.
- Most applications stop short of enrollment.
- Most applications are not mobile-friendly (only 3 in 10 benefits applications are accessible on a mobile device like a smartphone).
- Applications are not in multiple languages.
- Applications are time-consuming and burdensome.
- Older adults are concerned about privacy and may not trust that their personal information will be kept confidential.