#MIDDLEBURY
by Matilda Charles
You might be eligible for benefits you don’t even know about. The National Council on Aging has a website that identifies benefits such as help paying for prescription medicine, utilities, winterizing, food, health care, transportation and much more.
Go online to BenefitsCheckUp.org and complete its questionnaire. There are two ways to do this: If you click Can I Get Help?, you’ll be asked four simple questions – your ZIP code, monthly income, month and year of birth and what kind of assistance you’re looking for. Start with this short questionnaire and see if the results get you the information you need. If not, go to the more comprehensive questionnaire.
For the full benefits checkup, click on Find Help. The questions are much more detailed and a bit intrusive, including questions about whether you’re a veteran, what kind of assistance you already receive, what medical conditions you have, what assets you have and more. However, if you need a full range of help, this questionnaire might be your best bet.
The results you get will consist of links to other sites that can answer your questions. For example, if you want to know about home delivery of meals, you’ll be directed to your local food-distribution source, perhaps an organization that creates and delivers meals. If you need help paying utilities or having your home winterized, the links will take you to the right places to get that information. If you need help paying property taxes, you’ll be directed to your state’s homeowner assistance site.
The top of the BenefitsCheckUp website says they’ve helped over 5 million people find $17 billion worth of benefits. Maybe you’re eligible for some of those? If you’re about to retire on a limited income, know in advance some of the possible assistance available.
(c) 2016 King Features Synd., Inc.
