Summer 2007 Volume 4, Number 2

Benefits QuickLINK: New Online Tool for Grandfamilies

Elizabeth Reinsch, Ph.D., CSW, ACSW
Human Development Specialist
University of Missouri Extension
314-615-7605
ReinschE@missouri.edu

There is a new online tool that grandfamilies and relative caregivers can use to check
benefits that may apply to them. The following is an article describing this tool taken from the Spring 2007 The GIC Voice, AARP Foundation magazine.

As any parent will tell you, raising children is expensive. For grandparents and other relatives raising children -- “grandfamilies”, it can be especially hard to make ends meet.

There are government programs or “public benefits” that can help some grandfamilies pay for food, monthly expenses and health insurance. Unfortunately, many caregivers do not know these benefits are available or how to apply. “Even when relatives do apply for children’s benefits, they don’t always get the right information,” says Amy Goyer, national coordinator for the AARP Foundation’s Grandparenting Program.

AARP Foundation’s Benefits Outreach Program has introduced an easy-to-use new online tool that might help connect your family with the right benefits. The tool is called Benefits QuickLINK. This tool will help adults age 50 + find out if they or the children under 18 in their care (either their own children or relative children they are raising) may be eligible for a variety of benefit programs.

Benefits QuickLINK is free and easy to use. You can use it on any computer connected to the Internet. First, log on to www.aarp.org/quicklink. Next, answer a few simple questions. Then, Benefits QuickLINK will give you information about--and in some cases applications for--each public benefit for which you or the child in your care may qualify.

“Benefits QuickLINK only takes 20 minutes to complete, but it can make all the difference to a
family,” says Lori Strauss,
national coordinator of the
Benefits Outreach Program. “People find help they didn’t know was there.”

Mildred Jones agrees. The grandmother of two young girls, Jones recently tested Benefits QuickLINK at the Honickman Learning Center in Philadelphia. Jones was already getting health insurance and cash assistance for her granddaughters. Benefits QuickLINK told her she might also qualify for help paying her monthly phone bills. “It’s all news to me, but I am going to apply,” Jones says. “A little bit goes a long way.”

Are You Eligible for These Benefits?
Visit Benefits QuickLink (www. aarp.org/quicklink) to see if you are eligible for any of these 10 benefit programs:

1. Medicare Savings Programs

2. Medicare Prescription Drug coverage

3. Medicare Rx Extra Help

4. State Prescription Drug Assistance Programs

5. Medicaid for Aged, Blind, and Disabled

6. Food Stamps Program

7. Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP)

8. State Property Tax Relief/Rebates

9. Supplemental Security

10. Income (SSI) Telephone Assistance (Link-Up and Lifeline)