Meals, rides, and caregiver help for people 60+ were renewed and expanded

The Older Americans Act pays for services that help people 60 and older keep living at home. These include Meals on Wheels and group meals at senior centers, rides to appointments, help with chores and personal care, legal help, elder abuse prevention, and support for family caregivers. This 2020 law renewed those programs through 2024. It let their funding rise 7% in the first year and 6% each year after that, about 35% in total over five years.

You don’t sign up with Washington to get this help. You get it through your local Area Agency on Aging, and there are more than 600 of them nationwide. The law also gave states more room to help grandparents raising grandchildren. It made sure people with younger-onset Alzheimer’s can use key services, and it put more attention on loneliness and isolation.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici wrote the House bill and led it for more than a year. Rep. Susie Lee co-led it, Rep. Susan Wild won a suicide-risk screening amendment, and Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott helped move it through committee and the House. In the Senate, Sens. Susan Collins and Bob Casey wrote the matching bill. It passed both chambers without opposition, and President Donald Trump signed it on March 25, 2020.

The law’s funding authorization ran out after 2024, but Congress has kept funding the programs. In 2026, the money for senior meals stayed flat.