Background
The population over age 60 has been increasing rapidly and will continue to do so for decades to come. Public services agencies are working to streamline service delivery, but additional funding is required to keep pace with the needs of this growing population.
Enacted in 1965, the Older Americans Act (OAA) provides states with federal funding for social services that help millions of older adults continue living at home. Services include home delivered meals, personal care, transportation, and evidence-based health promotion classes. While federal funding for these programs has increased over time, it has been at a slower rate than population growth resulting in decreasing per capita funds over the last 10 years.
At the same time, the US has experienced a surge of inflation on consumer prices since 2020. Higher costs for agencies mean that for many, their real inflation-adjusted OAA funding has actually decreased over the last few years, even if the raw dollar amount has increased.
Spending Trends
The national data below shows how the population over age 60 is steadily increasing, but inflation-adjusted Older Americans Act funding is lower in 2024 than it was in 2015.
The unit cost trends show that the cost of providing services has been increasing, with some services like personal care and homemaker services having an especially large increase across the country.
Data Sources
Using publicly available data, Mon Ami made the visualizations above to show these complex trends in one place.
- Population over age 60: American Community Survey 1-year estimates (S0102), Total Population and Population Over 60 (https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2024.S0102)
- Inflation adjustment: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Historical CPI-U, https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/supplemental-files/. Spending each year is inflation adjusted to 2024 levels.
- Older Americans Act Funding: State Performance Report 2015-2024. Aging, Independence, and Disability Data Explorer. https://agid.acl.gov/data-explorer
How to use this data
One takeaway from this data is that we need additional funds for Older Americans Act programs in order to keep pace with the growing aging population. This funding can come from both the state and federal levels, so data like this should be shared with state representatives to advocate for increased funds.
Combining this data with real stories from public service agencies about the impact of these services on individuals can send an especially powerful message.