Older
Americans Act
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Older Americans Act
Overview
The Older Americans Act was originally signed into law by President
Lyndon B. Johnson on July
14, 1965 (PDF). In addition to creating the
Administration on Aging, it authorized grants to States for community
planning and services programs, as well as for research, demonstration
and training projects in the field of aging. Later amendments
to the Act added grants to Area Agencies on Aging for local needs
identification, planning, and funding of services, including
but
not limited to nutrition programs in the community as well as
for those who are homebound; programs which serve Native American
elders; services targeted at low-income minority elders; health
promotion and disease prevention activities; in-home services
for frail elders, and those services which protect the rights
of older persons such as the long term care ombudsman program.
The Older Americans Act Amendments of 2000 was signed into law
on November 13, 2000. Public Law 106 - 501 extends the Act’s programs
through FY 2005.
The reauthorized Act contains an important new program, the National
Family Caregiver Support Program, which will help hundreds of
thousands of family members who are struggling to care for their
older loved ones who are ill or who have disabilities. Family
caregivers have always been the mainstay underpinning long-term
care (LTC) for older persons in this country. Among non-institutionalized
persons needing assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs),
two-thirds depend solely on family and friends and another one-fourth
supplement family care with services from paid providers. Only
a little more than five percent rely exclusively on paid services.
The National Family Caregiver Support Program, part of the Administration’s
long term care initiative first advanced in 1999, is authorized
at $125 million in grants to State agencies on aging for FY 2001.
Under this program, which received bipartisan support, State agencies
on aging will work with area agencies on aging and community and
service provider organizations to provide support services including
information and assistance to caregivers, counseling, support
groups and respite and other home and community based services
to families caring for their frail older members. The National
Family Caregiver Support Program also recognizes the needs of
grandparents who are caregivers of grandchildren, and other older
individuals who are relative caregivers of children who are eighteen
and under.
The Act contains other significant changes and improvements which
provide added flexibility and reduce Federal prescriptiveness.
The following information will provide you with a summary description
of those changes as well as some Frequently Asked Questions (and
Answers) which will assist you in understanding of the newly reauthorized
Act.
Older Americans Act Sub Navigation:
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Dept. of Health & Human Services
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