The National Council on Aging (NCOA) named 90 new grantees for its national network of Benefits Enrollment Centers (BECs), which connect eligible low-income older Americans and individuals with disabilities to benefits programs that help them pay for daily expenses. In Massachusetts, BEC’s include the organizations Ethos in Jamaica Plain and Senior Connection, Inc. in Worcester.

Overall, NCOA will provide over $18.5 million in funding to 90 community-based organizations across 40 states and territories. The funding will support the work of local benefits counselors who find and enroll older adults and people with disabilities into programs that make health care, prescriptions, food, and utilities more affordable.

Poverty continued to increase among older adults—from 10.7% in 2021 to 15% in 2024, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. Meanwhile, millions of older adults are eligible for benefits programs but not enrolled—often because they don’t know about them or how to apply.

In 2024, NCOA’s local partners helped eligible individuals apply for over $825 million in public assistance. The centers use NCOA’s free online BenefitsCheckUp® tool to screen people for more than 2,000 benefits such as the Medicare Savings Programs, Medicare Part D Extra Help, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Medicaid.

The Benefits Enrollment Centers are funded through the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act administered by the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL). This funding has had a 17-year record of bipartisan success and was most recently extended through 2027 by the 2026 Omnibus spending package. Nationwide, this program helped connect 4.7 million lower-income adults to benefits in 2023-2024.