Older Americans Act Overview

Older Americans Act: Overview and Funding

• The Older Americans Act (OAA) is a primary federal statute for social and nutritional services for older persons (aged 60)
• The act funds a nationwide network of State and U.S. territory Units on Aging (SUAs), Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), and tribal organizations
• Health-related social services include personal care, chore services, transportation, congregate nutrition services (meals), home-delivered nutrition services, family caregiver support, community service employment, long-term care ombudsman programs, and services to prevent abuse/neglect/exploitation of older persons.
• The OAA also supports grants for health-related and social services to older Native Americans, and research/training/demonstration activities
• The Administration on Aging (AOA), under Administration for Community Living (ACL) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), administers most OAA programs, except the Community Service Employment for Older Americans (CSEOA), which is administered by the Department of Labor (DOL)
• The OAA has seven titles:
  • Title I: sets broad social policy objectives for older Americans and defines terms
  • Title II: establishes AOA, its responsibilities, SUAs, and AAAs and the Aging Network
  • Title III: authorizes grants for state/community programs on aging
  • Title IV: funds training, research, and demonstration projects on aging relevant issues
  • Title V: funds community service opportunities for low-income individuals (aged 55+)
  • Title VI: authorizes funds for services to older Native Americans
  • Title VII: funds vulnerable elder rights protection activities
• The OAA has been amended numerous times since 1965, the most recent being the Supporting Older Americans Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-131)
• FY2024 OAA funding is $2.372 billion, $6.019 million less than the FY2023 level
• Discretionary funding for OAA Programs, Projects, and Activities is included in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (P.L. 118-47)
• Funding is provided under ACL's Aging and Disability Services Programs budget authority, the Department of Labor budget authority, and from discretionary and mandatory funding under the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) account and Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF)

Funding History

• Funding for most OAA programs comes from annual appropriations through the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) Appropriations Act
• FY2024 funding saw a slight decrease compared to the FY2023 level, mostly due to a decrease in Title III nutrition funding. The largest one-year funding increase was from FY2019 to FY2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic supplemental funding. FY2021's funding reached the highest level at over $3.7B, primarily due to COVID-19 supplemental funding. Prior to that point, total funding was below the FY2010 funding level of over $2.3B.