The Older American's Act (OAA) was originally passed in 1965 as part of the War on Poverty and as a measure of relief for the elderly of America. The first White House Conference on Aging (1961) established an urgency to address the older Americans plight in poverty, lack of health coverage, and relative isolation. During that first White House Conference on Aging, it was noted that Older Americans (65 years and older), as a group, have a number of social problems to deal with including physical and mental health and illness, fewer or no children to offer adult caregiving, income concerns, transportation difficulties, fear of being warehoused in nursing homes, decreased abilities, housing upkeep, property taxes, neglect, abuse, poverty, loneliness, and age discrimination to name a few (Frequently Asked Questions, n.d.). In 1965 a number of social welfare programs passed to help serve some of these needs, such as amendments to the Social Security Act which added Medicare and Medicaid (History, n.d.).

 

     However, helping an elderly individual by subsidizing retirement income and medical expenses answers to quantity of life, not quality of life (Atchley, 2000). The Older Americans Act (1965) which included the newly created Administration on Aging (AoA) within the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a major goal of helping senior citizens improve the quality of their life, including that of their social life.

 

    Butler, Lewis & Sunderland (1998) give the following as the OAA’s primary goals:

1- support a national network of state and area agencies on aging;

2- develop and oversee a comprehensive and coordinated system of support services and opportunities to meet the social and human service needs of the elderly; and

3- serve as a visible advocate on behalf of older persons (p. 364).

 

   Benefits and services from the Act targeted citizens who were 60 years of age and older and, by Federal law, the beneficiaries can not be charged for the products or services that it provides. However, donations are accepted from the seniors in the donation box which must be placed a few feet away from the congregate meal line, as one example. OAA mandated services include, but are not limited to health issues in meals programs, both Meals on Wheels and congregate meals, and health screenings, Homemakers Home Health Aid Program, and transportation services to doctors when it is needed. They must have a Quality Aging Program which includes socials, activities, and a telephone reassurance program. Waiting lists for some programs have also become a familiar scene at many of the Area Agencies on Aging who administer the OAA and oversee the Senior Citizen Centers. For in home care of the elderly, OAA must provide the Alternatives Program, which is designed to help the individual stay in their own home rather than have to go to a nursing home (Compilation of the Older Americans Act of 1965 and the Native American Programs of 1974 as Amended through December 31, 1992). The most recognized benefit of the OAA is in the nutritional programs (Guthrie & Lin, 2002), (Hale, Bennett, Oslos, Cochran, & Burton, 1997), (Richard, Gosselin, Trickey, Robitaille, & Payette, 2000), & (Sharkey, 2004, 2002, 2001).

 

     This paper will analyze the Older Americans Act with its amendments up through 2000 and to ask the question: How effective is the OAA in alleviating some of the problems of older aged adults? It will also consider the next White House Conference on Aging to yet be held in Washington D.C. on December 11 through 14 of 2005 and suggest areas that the Act needs to address in the next 25 years. In that analysis, specific areas will be examined.