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Help as you get older
For people in the United States who are getting older and want to stay safe, independent and looked after, and for the people who love them. One phone number that finds help near you. Staying in your own home. Falls. Medicines. Medicare: the parts, when to sign up, and help paying. Memory worries. Being alone. Driving. Scams, and what to do if someone is mistreating you. Putting your wishes on paper. And the words to say when you call. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Feeling low, alone, or like a burden? Call or text 988, at any hour. The 988 Lifeline says it is there for emotional distress, or if you just need someone to talk to. In danger, or hurt after a fall: 911.
- One number for help near you: the Eldercare Locator, a public service of the U.S. Administration for Community Living. Call or text 1-800-677-1116.
- Can’t afford Medicare? Medicare.gov says of its Medicare Savings Programs: “Even if you don’t think you qualify, you should still apply.”
- Scammed? The National Elder Fraud Hotline is for fraud against anyone 60 or older: 1-833-372-8311, Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern.
More help
- Looking after someone older? When you’re caring for someone and When you’re worried about someone.
- A doctor’s visit coming? Appointment prep builds a one-page sheet to take with you.
- Not sure a call or message is real? Scam check.
- Short of food or money this month? Food help, When the money runs out and low-cost care.
- Someone has died? Grief and After a death: the practical things.
- Served in the military? For veterans.
- Not safe at home? When home isn’t safe.
- Memory loss or dementia? When memory starts to slip.
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When a medical bill is too much: what to check before you pay, the financial help nonprofit hospitals must offer, surprise bills, and debt collectors.
- Taxes: free help, and what to do if you can’t pay: whether you need to file, the credits many people miss, where a return is done for free, and what to do when you owe.
- If an older person is being hurt: an older person who is being hurt, neglected or robbed: the signs, who takes a report, nursing homes, scams, and free people to call.
- When it gets hard to hear: hearing that is fading: sudden hearing loss (an emergency), the signs, hearing aids with and without a prescription, what Medicare pays for, and what you can ask for.
- When someone you love is dying: someone who is dying: hospice and palliative care, what Medicare pays for, keeping them comfortable, what you may see near the end, and what to say.
- When your sight is fading: eyesight that is fading: the sudden changes that are an emergency, the eye exam, what Medicare pays for, free and low-cost eye care, vision rehabilitation and free audiobooks.
- When you’re raising a relative’s child: raising a grandchild, niece, nephew, brother, sister or a friend’s child: legal custody, school and medical consent, money for the child, and help for you.
- When you’re losing health coverage: health coverage that is ending: the 60-day window for a Marketplace plan, COBRA, Medicaid renewals, turning 26, Medicare, and appeals.
- When it’s COPD: COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis): when a flare-up is a 911 call, the breathing test, inhalers, rehab, oxygen and what Medicare pays.
- Menopause, and the years around it: menopause and perimenopause: which bleeding to have checked, hot flashes, sleep and mood, dryness and bladder leaks, and hormone therapy.
- When it’s arthritis: arthritis: the types, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout, how a doctor finds out which, and the treatments.
- When it’s Parkinson’s: Parkinson’s disease: the signs, the diagnosis, the medicines and their side effects, and who to call.
- When you can’t afford your medicine: what to ask, the programs that help, and buying online safely: when you can’t afford your medicine: what to ask, generics, assistance programs, Medicare’s Extra Help, a plan that says no, and safe online pharmacies.
- When you can’t afford a dentist: where low-cost care is, what Medicaid and Medicare cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford a dentist: the signs that should not wait, dental schools, health centers, Medicaid and CHIP, what Medicare leaves out, dental plans, and VA dental care.
- When you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: free and low-cost programs, what Medicare and insurance cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: the changes that should not wait, free and low-cost programs, what children are owed, what Medicare leaves out and covers, vision coverage for adults, and eye care through VA.
- When you have no ride to the doctor: Medicaid rides, what Medicare covers, VA rides and travel pay, paratransit, and who to call: when you have no ride to the doctor: the ride Medicaid covers and how to set it up, when Medicare pays for an ambulance, free rides and travel pay from VA, the federal paratransit rule, and who to call.
- When you can’t afford medical equipment: wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen and hospital beds, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and where to borrow: when you can’t afford medical equipment: what Medicare counts as equipment, the question to ask a supplier first, how oxygen rental works, what Medicaid may not refuse outright, and the program in every state that lends and reuses devices.
- When you need help at home and can’t pay for it: home health care, aides, bathing and meals, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and who to ask: when you need help at home and can’t pay for it: the home health care Medicare covers and the daily help it leaves out, the short deadline when an agency says your care is ending, what Medicaid must cover at home and may add, the VA programs, and the local agencies behind home-delivered meals.
- When someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: what Medicare covers, Medicaid, a spouse at home, being told to leave, and who to ask: when someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: the short stay Medicare covers and the long stay it does not, what Medicaid must cover, what is protected for a spouse at home, when a nursing home may make a resident leave, the VA homes, and who stands up for residents.
- When it’s heart failure: when to call 911, symptoms, the ejection fraction number, medicines, the morning weigh-in, salt and fluid, and what to ask: heart failure: when it is a 911 call and when to call your provider, the ejection fraction number, the kinds of medicine, the morning weigh-in, and salt and fluid.
- When it’s high blood pressure: what the numbers mean, a very high reading and when to call 911, checking at home, medicines, salt and food, pregnancy, and what to ask: high blood pressure: what the two numbers mean, what to do with a very high reading and when it is a 911 call, how to get a true reading, the kinds of medicine, and salt.
- When it’s high cholesterol: what the numbers mean, how often to be tested, statins and other medicines, food, when it runs in the family, and what to ask: high cholesterol: what the numbers on a lab report mean, how often to be tested, the kinds of medicine and what is said about statins, food, and when it runs in the family.
- When it’s atrial fibrillation (AFib): when to call 911, what it feels like, blood clots and blood thinners, medicines, cardioversion and ablation, day to day, and what to ask: atrial fibrillation (AFib): the signs that are a 911 call, what it feels like, blood clots and blood thinners, the medicines that slow the heart or steady its rhythm, and cardioversion, ablation and other procedures.
- Shingles: the signs, the first three days, the pain that can stay, who can catch what, the vaccine, and when to call: shingles: the signs, the first three days, the pain that can stay, who can catch what, the vaccine, and when to call.
- Healthy eating and staying active as you get older: food, fluids, salt, the five kinds of activity, and being good to yourself: healthy eating and staying active as you get older: the foods to have more and less of, fluids, salt, the five kinds of physical activity, staying safe, and being good to yourself.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 1, 2026: the National Institute on Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health); the Eldercare Locator and the Administration for Community Living; Medicare.gov; Social Security; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Federal Trade Commission; the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Elder Fraud Hotline; USAGov; the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs’ national site; the National Council on Aging’s BenefitsCheckUp (a nonprofit); and the 988 Lifeline. Dollar limits are the federal ones Medicare.gov lists for 2026, and they change every year. We could not open the National Center on Elder Abuse’s website that day, and we did not find the Eldercare Locator’s opening hours, so the page does not state them. On October 14, 2026 we added, from Medicare.gov, the parts of Medicare, Open Enrollment, the sign-up periods and late penalties, and hospice, and from the National Institute on Aging, wills, financial powers of attorney and getting your papers in order. We did not read any state’s rules, the rules for buying a Medigap policy, or the Part A premium. A few lines are our own suggestions, and the page marks them as ours. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a government agency, a medical practice or an aging services provider, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].