Help for Seniors With Low Income

Key Takeaways: Quick Answers 💡

Can seniors on Social Security still get food stamps? Yes. Three out of five older adults who qualify for SNAP are not receiving these benefits — about five million people leaving money on the table.

What’s the maximum monthly cash benefit for a low-income senior with no work history? The federal Supplemental Security Income payment for an eligible individual in 2025 is $967 per month.

Is there a program that pays for prescriptions almost entirely? Yes. Medicare’s Extra Help program has an estimated average annual value of $5,700 per person.

Can low-income seniors get help paying rent? Absolutely. Section 202 residents pay only 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, with the government covering the rest.

Who do I call first if I don’t know where to start? The Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 or dial 2-1-1 for your local community resource hub.

Is there help with heating and cooling bills? The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program provides heating and cooling assistance to roughly 6.7 million households — and many more qualify than apply.

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Yes, You Can Get Food Stamps on Social Security — and the Rules Are Actually More Generous for Seniors 🍎

This might be the single most consequential myth keeping low-income seniors hungry. Many seniors believe that once they start receiving Social Security retirement benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance, or Supplemental Security Income, they automatically become ineligible for SNAP benefits. That’s simply not true.

Here’s what makes SNAP uniquely favorable for older adults. In SNAP, you are considered elderly if you are 60 years or older, and special rules apply. The biggest advantage? Elderly households can deduct medical expenses that exceed $35 per month if they aren’t paid by insurance or someone else. That means every dollar you spend on co-pays, over-the-counter medications, dental work, hearing aid batteries, adult diapers, and dozens of other health expenses can reduce your countable income and increase your food benefit.

If all members of your household receive SSI, you may be deemed categorically eligible for SNAP because you have already been determined eligible for another means-tested program.

🍎 Snap Facts for Seniors	Details	💡 What Others Won’t Tell You
Maximum monthly benefit (single senior)	Up to $291 in 2025	Even the minimum $23/month adds up to nearly $300/year 💰
Income test for seniors	Only the net income test applies — 100% of the poverty line	Younger applicants face a stricter gross income test too, but seniors skip it ✅
Medical expense deduction	Costs above $35/month that insurance doesn’t cover	Most seniors dramatically undercount what qualifies as a medical expense 💊
Where to apply	Local SNAP office, online, or at Social Security if you receive SSI	If you receive SSI, your local Social Security office can help you complete a SNAP application and forward it to the SNAP office 📋

💡 Pro Tip: Keep every single pharmacy receipt, medical co-pay slip, and dental bill — even payments for bandages, prescription eyeglasses, and transportation to medical appointments. These all count toward the medical expense deduction that can significantly bump up your SNAP benefit. Most seniors never report these costs and receive far less than they’re entitled to.

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$967 a Month With Zero Work History: How Supplemental Security Income Quietly Rescues the Poorest Seniors 💵

If you’re 65 or older, have extremely limited income, and never paid enough into Social Security to earn retirement benefits (or your benefit is tiny), there’s a federal lifeline most people don’t know about until a crisis forces them to find it.

SSI provides monthly payments to people with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income or resources. To qualify, individuals must have income below $967 per month and financial resources below $2,000.

But the real power of SSI goes far beyond the monthly check. Medicaid is linked to receipt of SSI benefits in most states, which means getting approved for SSI often automatically opens the door to free health coverage — including doctor visits, hospital stays, prescriptions, dental care, vision, and hearing aids that Medicare alone wouldn’t fully cover.

If you get SSI, you can usually get federal benefits like SNAP and state benefits like Medicaid, and help from these programs won’t affect your SSI payment.

💵 SSI Essentials	Details	💡 Hidden Advantage
Federal maximum payment (individual, 2025)	$967 per month	Many states add their own supplement on top of this 🏠
Average monthly SSI payment for someone 65+	$590	Lower than the max because most have some other income counted
Resource limit (individual)	$2,000	Your home, one vehicle, and burial plots don’t count toward this limit 🏡
Automatic Medicaid?	Yes, in most states	This alone can be worth thousands per year in healthcare savings 🏥
Automatic Extra Help for prescriptions?	Yes — if you get SSI and have Medicare, you’re eligible for Extra Help without a separate application	Saves an average of $5,700 per year 💊
How to apply	Call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213	Available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., in English, Spanish, and other languages 📞

💡 Pro Tip: Some states provide optional state supplements to SSI that can significantly increase the monthly payment. For example, some states add several hundred dollars per month for seniors in assisted living arrangements. Always ask your Social Security caseworker whether your state offers a supplement — they won’t always volunteer that information.

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Your Prescriptions Could Cost Almost Nothing: Medicare’s Extra Help Program Is Worth $5,700 a Year and Half of Eligible Seniors Don’t Have It 💊

This is, dollar for dollar, one of the most valuable benefit programs in existence for low-income seniors — and fewer than half of the people eligible for Extra Help actually sign up. That statistic is devastating when you consider what they’re leaving behind.

Extra Help is a Medicare program to help people with limited income and resources pay Medicare drug coverage premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and other costs. Before 2024, there were two different categories of Extra Help, full and partial, but that changed in 2024 under the Inflation Reduction Act. Everyone eligible for Extra Help now gets full Extra Help benefits.

Here’s who qualifies. Single individuals with annual income under $23,475 and resources below $17,600 in 2025, or married couples with income under $31,725 and resources below $35,130.

And here’s something almost nobody realizes: You’ll automatically receive Extra Help if you have both Medicare and Medicaid, are enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program, or receive Supplemental Security Income.

💊 Extra Help Details	Numbers	💡 Why This Matters
Average annual value per person	$5,700	That’s nearly $500/month in prescription savings 🤯
Income limit (single, 2025)	$23,475 annually	Higher than most seniors expect — check even if you think you won’t qualify
What it covers	Premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments for Part D	Eliminates the Part D late enrollment penalty too ✅
How to apply	Call 1-800-772-1213 (Social Security) or 1-800-633-4227 (Medicare)	You can apply any time before or after you enroll in Part D 📞
Temporary emergency coverage	Call LI NET at 1-800-783-1307	Gives temporary Part D drug coverage to people who qualify for Extra Help but aren’t enrolled in a plan yet 🚨

💡 Pro Tip: Starting in 2025, if you have Medicaid or get Extra Help, you may be able to change your drug coverage once per month. This is a game-changer. Before this rule, seniors were often stuck with a plan that didn’t cover their medications until the next open enrollment. Now you can switch monthly to find a plan that actually covers what your doctor prescribes.

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Rent Capped at 30 Percent of Your Income? Section 202 Housing Was Built Specifically for You 🏠

When you’re facing high housing costs and inflation on a fixed income, it’s not easy to age in place. One study showed that the most cost-burdened older households spent 53 percent less on food and 70 percent less on health care than those living in affordable homes. That’s not just a housing problem. That’s a health emergency driven by rent.

The Section 202 program provides affordable housing with supportive services for the elderly. It provided capital advances from the federal government to support nonprofit entities to build housing for very low-income seniors. In Section 202 housing, you only pay 30 percent of your income as rent. For example, if your monthly income is $500, you pay $150 per month as rent.

Section 202 provided seniors, defined as 62 or older, with options that allow them to live independently but in an environment that provides support activities such as cleaning, cooking, transportation, and others.

🏠 Senior Housing Options	Who Qualifies	💡 Critical Detail
Section 202 Supportive Housing	Age 62 or older with very low income	You pay only 30% of your income as rent — government pays the rest 🏡
Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8)	Low-income households of any age	Voucher pays difference between 30% of your income and fair market rent 📋
Public Housing	Income-based eligibility	Contact your local Public Housing Authority
How to find properties	Call HUD at 1-800-569-4287 or Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116	Many Section 202 properties have waiting lists, so contact the property manager as soon as possible ⏰

💡 Pro Tip: HUD does not manage the rental of affordable housing directly. To apply for Section 202 housing, you must contact the owner or manager of the specific property. This catches many families off guard — they call HUD and expect to be placed, but that’s not how it works. Your local Area Agency on Aging often maintains lists of Section 202 properties in your county and can help you contact the right managers directly. Apply to multiple properties simultaneously because waitlists can stretch months to years.

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Your Electric Bill Is Crushing You? A Federal Grant Can Cover It — and You Don’t Pay It Back ⚡

Electricity prices are rising nearly twice as fast as overall inflation: 5.7 percent versus 2.8 percent by the end of June 2025. For seniors living on fixed incomes, that gap between rising utility costs and stagnant checks is becoming genuinely dangerous.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program can help you pay your heating or cooling bills or get emergency services during an energy crisis. And here’s the part most people miss entirely: LIHEAP provides heating and cooling assistance to roughly 6.7 million households, but only about 17 percent of eligible households actually receive energy assistance. That means over 80 percent of the people who qualify aren’t getting a dime.

You may be automatically eligible for LIHEAP if you or another person in your household is enrolled in other government-sponsored benefit programs like SSI, SNAP, or TANF.

⚡ Energy Assistance Facts	Details	💡 What You’re Missing
Benefit range	$200 to $1,000 in Pennsylvania; up to $1,500 in Los Angeles	Amounts vary by state, household size, income, and fuel type 🔥
Who applies first?	Seniors age 60+, disabled individuals, and families with young children get priority	Seniors get early access before general enrollment opens 👴
Do you repay it?	No — it’s a grant	The grant is sent directly to your utility provider and credited to your bill 💰
Emergency crisis help	Available if you’re disconnected or about to be	Contact your local county assistance office to report a heating emergency for additional crisis funds 🚨
How to apply	Call 2-1-1 or contact your state LIHEAP office	Every state and territory has its own requirements and office 📞

💡 Pro Tip: You may also qualify for the Weatherization Assistance Program, which provides free home improvements that save money on energy. This can include insulation, window sealing, furnace repair, and other upgrades that permanently lower your utility bills — all at no cost to you. Ask about both programs when you call. Many families only learn about LIHEAP and completely miss the weatherization benefit that keeps saving money year after year.

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Medicaid Isn’t Just for Young Families: Here’s How Seniors With Low Income Get Free Healthcare, Prescriptions, Hearing Aids, and Dental 🏥

There’s a persistent misconception that Medicaid is only for low-income parents with children. For seniors, Medicaid is actually one of the most comprehensive healthcare safety nets in existence.

Medicaid provides health coverage to 7.2 million low-income seniors who are also enrolled in Medicare. When someone qualifies for both programs (called being “dually eligible”), Medicaid covers additional services beyond those provided under Medicare, including nursing facility care beyond the 100-day limit, prescription drugs, eyeglasses, and hearing aids.

States pay the Medicare premiums for people who receive SSI benefits if they are also eligible for Medicaid. That means Medicaid doesn’t just add services — it can eliminate the monthly Medicare premium payment that eats into your check.

🏥 Medicaid for Seniors	Eligibility	💡 The Benefit Nobody Mentions
Medicare Savings Programs	Income up to $1,781/month for individuals with resources below $9,660 (2025)	Pays your Medicare premiums and often copays too 💳
Full Medicaid for seniors	Income thresholds based on SSI level ($967/month) or up to 100% of poverty ($1,305/month) depending on state	Covers dental, vision, hearing aids — services Medicare barely touches 👓
Long-term care Medicaid	Available in all states except Montana, usually at income up to $2,901/month	Can pay for nursing home care that otherwise costs $8,000-$10,000/month 🏠
How to apply	Call 1-800-633-4227 (Medicare) or your state Medicaid office	Visit medicare.gov and find your state Medicaid office phone number 📞

💡 Pro Tip: Eighteen states have increased the income or savings limits for Medicare beneficiaries beyond the federal minimums. This means your state might qualify you even if you’re above the standard federal threshold. Never assume you’re ineligible based on national numbers alone — your state may have expanded the program.

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The Benefits Screening That Takes 15 Minutes and Could Save You Thousands Every Year 🔍

If you’ve made it this far and feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of programs, you’re not alone. That’s exactly why this tool exists.

NCOA’s BenefitsCheckUp is the nation’s most comprehensive free online service that screens seniors with limited income for more than 2,000 public and private benefits available in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It covers prescriptions, food, housing, utilities, healthcare, property tax relief, phone discounts, and dozens of other programs you’d never find on your own.

🔍 Benefits Screening Tools	Contact	💡 What It Does
BenefitsCheckUp (NCOA)	benefitscheckup.org	Screens for 2,000+ programs in about 15 minutes — completely free 📝
Eldercare Locator	1-800-677-1116	Connects older adults to local resources for transportation, housing, benefits eligibility, and community services 🗺️
211 Helpline	Dial 2-1-1	Immediate connection to local food, shelter, energy, and crisis assistance 🆘
Social Security Administration	1-800-772-1213	SSI, retirement benefits, Extra Help applications, and disability claims 🏛️
Medicare National Hotline	1-800-633-4227	Available 24/7 for enrollment, plan comparisons, and cost-saving programs 📞
SHIP (free insurance counseling)	Through 1-800-677-1116	SHIP counseling is free of charge and federally funded, not affiliated with the insurance industry 🛡️

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Your Master Contact Card for Low-Income Senior Help 📋

Save this. Share it with everyone you know who’s struggling or caring for someone who is.

📌 What You Need	Who to Call	Number
🔑 Don’t know where to start	Eldercare Locator	1-800-677-1116
💵 SSI cash benefits	Social Security	1-800-772-1213
💊 Prescription drug savings	Medicare Extra Help	1-800-772-1213 (apply)
💊 Emergency temporary prescriptions	LI NET Program	1-800-783-1307
🏥 Medicare questions 24/7	Medicare Hotline	1-800-633-4227
🍎 Food assistance (SNAP)	Local SNAP office or SSA	1-800-772-1213 (if on SSI)
⚡ Heating and cooling bill help	LIHEAP	Dial 2-1-1 for your local office
🏠 Affordable senior housing	HUD	1-800-569-4287
🔍 Screen for 2,000+ benefits	BenefitsCheckUp	benefitscheckup.org
🛡️ Free Medicare insurance counseling	SHIP	Through 1-800-677-1116
🚨 Elder abuse reporting	Adult Protective Services	Your state’s APS hotline
💛 Crisis and emotional support	Suicide and Crisis Lifeline	988

The single most expensive mistake low-income seniors make isn’t spending too much. It’s not applying for what they’ve already earned the right to receive. Studies show that three out of five older adults who qualify for SNAP aren’t receiving benefits they’re entitled to. The same pattern repeats across Extra Help, Medicaid, LIHEAP, and housing programs. Every call you make from the list above is a call that could unlock money already set aside for you. Pick up the phone today — starting with 1-800-677-1116. One call truly can change everything.