US Meals Programs for Elderly Miss 90% of People in Need

GAO report revealed that many elderly Americans with low incomes who need meals services do not receive them.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Many elderly Americans with low incomes who need meals services do not receive them despite the growing need for such programs, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed.

“An estimated 90 percent of low-income older adults do not receive meals services like those funded by Older Americans Act (OAA),” the report released on Monday said.

Low income older adults are defined as those aged 60 and older with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty threshold.

The GAO found that the number of low-income older adults who were listed as food insecure rose from 19 percent in 2008 compared to 24 percent in 2013 despite a substantially larger percentage of the elderly population receiving meals services.

“About 83 percent do not receive meals among low-income adults who are food insecure, meaning they report three or more conditions such as skipping meals because they did not have enough money for food,” the report said.

An estimated 27 percent, or 16 million, of Americans aged 60 and older likely need home-based care, according to the GAO's analysis of 2012 Health and Retirement Study data.

The OAA of 1965 was enacted to help older adults remain in their homes and communities.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the US federal government spends taxpayer dollars