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New Online Service Helps Seniors Tap Benefits Information

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WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Jun 05 - Beginning Tuesday, millions of American

seniors who may be eligible for prescription drug discounts, Medicaid or other

benefits will have a single source for getting information on how to quality and

apply for a slew of different state and federal programs.

BenefitsCheckUp.org is the first Web site to provide one-stop shopping for

nearly 1000 state and federal benefits programs.

More than 5 million seniors are currently missing out on programs for which they

are eligible, according to the National Council on the Aging (NCOA), which

launched the Web site.

As many as 3 million eligible seniors do not participate in Medicaid, for

example. Twenty-nine states have pharmacy assistance programs that are not being

fully utilized, the NCOA said. And many middle- and upper-income seniors do not

take advantage of Veteran's programs, property tax relief, nutrition programs

and educational benefits for which they qualify.

" BenefitsCheckUp is a shining example of how a public and private partnership

can make life easier for seniors and their families, " said Dr. Firman,

president of the Washington-based NCOA.

The service is free to the public, with backing from AOL Time Warner Inc., New

York Life, Lucent Technologies, the Merck Company Foundation and the Archstone

Foundation. The US National Institute on Aging helped fund development of the

Web-based service.

Firman said the NCOA would be working with the AARP, Catholic Charities USA and

other organizations to get the word out about the new service.

America Online's GovernmentGuide.com will host the Web site, which is powered by

VitalAging.