Older adults living with limited incomes face significant challenges in accessing affordable healthcare. The following national nonprofit organizations help seniors navigate healthcare options, secure financial assistance, access community services, and advocate for their rights. Each organization listed is committed to improving the healthcare experience and overall well-being of low-income seniors.
Aging Life Care Association
The Aging Life Care Association represents professionals who help seniors and their families navigate healthcare, housing, and social service options. Their directory connects seniors, especially those facing financial hardship, to affordable care management resources.
Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research promotes medical research to improve the health and independence of older adults, focusing on access to quality care, treatments for age-related diseases, and education campaigns tailored to seniors and their caregivers.
ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center
ARCH promotes access to affordable, quality respite care services for caregivers of seniors and individuals with disabilities, ensuring that family members can rest while their loved ones receive safe healthcare and supervision.
BenefitsCheckUp (by NCOA)
BenefitsCheckUp is a free service that helps older adults with limited income find benefits programs that can help pay for medications, healthcare, food, utilities, and more, streamlining access to public and private assistance options.
Caregiver Action Network
This national nonprofit provides free education, peer support, and resources for family caregivers, including those supporting low-income seniors with chronic illnesses or disabilities, helping families navigate healthcare challenges more effectively.
Center for Medicare Advocacy
This nonprofit law organization advocates for fair access to Medicare coverage and quality healthcare for older adults and people with disabilities, offering policy advocacy, educational resources, and direct legal assistance to low-income seniors facing healthcare challenges.
Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC)
CAPC advances the availability of high-quality palliative care for all people living with serious illness, including low-income seniors, by providing training, tools, and technical assistance to healthcare providers and systems.
Community Catalyst – Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation
Community Catalyst’s Center empowers consumers, including low-income seniors, to influence healthcare policies and systems. They focus on promoting equitable access to quality, affordable health services through grassroots organizing, advocacy training, and policy development.
Eldercare Locator (USAging)
A program of the U.S. Administration on Aging, Eldercare Locator connects older adults and caregivers to trusted local services, including healthcare, transportation, nutrition, and support programs, helping low-income seniors find assistance close to home.
Family Caregiver Alliance
Family Caregiver Alliance supports caregivers through education, services, research, and advocacy. They provide national resources to help caregivers of seniors manage healthcare needs, including chronic disease support, respite care, and financial assistance resources.
Generations United
Generations United promotes programs that strengthen intergenerational connections, including those aimed at providing healthcare and wellness support for seniors living with or cared for by younger family members in low-income households.
HealthWell Foundation
The HealthWell Foundation reduces financial barriers to care for underinsured Americans by providing copayment, premium, and deductible assistance to low-income individuals living with chronic or life-altering conditions, including many older adults.
Justice in Aging
Justice in Aging is a national nonprofit legal advocacy organization that fights senior poverty through law. They focus particularly on ensuring low-income seniors have access to affordable healthcare, long-term services and supports, and protection from elder abuse.
LeadingAge
LeadingAge represents nonprofit organizations dedicated to making America a better place to grow old. They advocate for affordable senior housing, healthcare access, and innovative care solutions that serve low-income and marginalized seniors.
Meals on Wheels America
Meals on Wheels America supports over 5,000 community-based programs nationwide that deliver nutritious meals and friendly visits to vulnerable seniors, helping to combat hunger, isolation, and health risks that can contribute to rapid physical and cognitive decline.
Medicare Rights Center
The Medicare Rights Center is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure access to affordable healthcare for older adults by providing counseling, advocacy, and education on Medicare rights and benefits.
National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA)
NADSA promotes adult day services as a cost-effective alternative for seniors needing healthcare supervision and therapeutic services. They support programs that provide affordable care, especially vital for low-income seniors and their families.
National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (USAging)
USAging supports local Area Agencies on Aging, helping them deliver healthcare, homecare, nutrition, and transportation services to older adults nationwide, prioritizing those with the greatest social and economic need.
National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics
The NAFC represents clinics providing free or low-cost medical care to uninsured and underserved populations, including seniors who are low-income or unable to afford co-pays and out-of-pocket healthcare expenses.
National Council on Aging (NCOA)
NCOA works to improve the lives of millions of older adults, especially those struggling financially or with health challenges, by providing advocacy, public policy leadership, and direct service programs focused on benefits access, healthy aging, and financial security.
National Institute on Aging Information Center
The NIA, part of the National Institutes of Health, offers authoritative health information and research updates focused on diseases of aging, healthy living, and affordable care resources targeted at low-income and underserved elderly populations.
National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center (NORC)
NORC strengthens state Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs that advocate for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, ensuring that low-income seniors receive high-quality, person-centered healthcare and services.
National PACE Association (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly)
PACE programs provide comprehensive medical and social services to frail, low-income seniors, enabling them to live independently at home rather than in nursing homes, with services typically covered through Medicare and Medicaid.
National Resource Center on LGBT Aging
This national organization offers training, technical assistance, and resources to address the unique healthcare challenges faced by LGBT seniors, particularly those who are low-income and lack traditional family support systems.
Patient Advocate Foundation
The Patient Advocate Foundation provides case management, financial aid, and resource navigation for low-income patients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses, including seniors, helping them access needed healthcare services and treatments they otherwise might not afford.
Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP)
SMP empowers seniors to prevent, detect, and report healthcare fraud. By protecting seniors from scams and fraudulent charges, they help preserve financial resources that can otherwise impact a senior’s ability to afford necessary care.
Special Needs Alliance
This nonprofit network of attorneys specializes in disability and elder law, helping low-income seniors and families navigate healthcare, long-term care, and financial planning options to maintain quality of life and healthcare access.