Government shutdown impacts senior access to services

The federal government shutdown is set to reach one month on Saturday, and the impacts are being felt by many Americans, including seniors who are struggling to access food, health care and a variety of support services.

An article published last week by national senior advocacy group AARP highlighted some of the difficulties being faced by older Americans. One example involves a 79-year-old Seattle-area resident who was no longer receiving telehealth benefits through Medicare.

AARP noted that the woman was seeking an appointment with her allergist but was told that Medicare wasn’t paying for virtual appointments. To avoid an out-of-pocket cost of $145, she was required to make an in-person visit.

Although the cost of gas, a ferry ticket from her island home and other travel expenses were less than $145, the situation might not have been resolved so easily if she were unable to drive.

“It’s traumatizing for someone who lives rurally, who’s not used to the traffic, to get on a big highway and travel into the city, into that milieu, for a doctor’s appointment,” the woman told AARP. The group said it is lobbying Congress for permanent telehealth waivers that were initially established during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A separate report published this week by NPR delved into the looming crisis for recipients of food stamps, who will see their benefits lapse Nov. 1 unless a solution is created.

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which serves 42 million Americans, hasn’t had its benefits disrupted since its creation in 1939, NPR reported. But a mid-October letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) told state agencies to not distribute November benefits “until further notice” due to insufficient funds.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has asked the USDA to partially pay for SNAP benefits through contingency funds. The nonpartisan research group claims that the government has a legal obligation to fund SNAP since it’s an entitlement program. But the USDA has said that its contingency funds are only meant for natural disaster recovery efforts, according to NPR.

The outlet went on to note that a coalition of more than two dozen Democratic governors and state attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over the move. NPR also noted that some states are attempting to address the problem through local funding measures.

Local reporting by an NBC affiliate in Colorado noted that more than 600,000 residents in the state are dependent on SNAP benefits. Seniors account for more than 20% of beneficiaries nationwide, according to USDA estimates.

One resident who spoke to the outlet said she had to retire early to care for her mother and relies on SNAP benefits to make ends meet. “It’s unfair,” the resident said. “Having the basic essentials like food being threatened and taken away is traumatic.”

The distribution of federal retirement benefits are also being delayed. While the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is operating during the shutdown, its staff of 400 retirement personnel specialists are reportedly inundated and backlogged, according to reporting from an NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C.

The situation is exacerbated by the roughly 150,000 federal workers who accepted buyout offers earlier this year from the Elon Musk-led U.S. DOGE Service. Many left their government jobs on Sept. 30, while others will leave by the end of this year.

That will require the OPM to process some 60,000 new claims, which it’s attempting to do with a newly implemented technology system. The NBC report said that OPM had a backlog of 24,000 claims to process in August, with the average claim taking 70 days to move through the queue.

While these services and benefits are being impacted by the shutdown, the Social Security program is continuing to operate and recipients are receiving their monthly benefits. But a CBS News report said that other services handled by the Social Security Administration (SSA) — including verifications of benefits and processing of overpayments — may be disrupted.

Last week, the SSA announced a 2.8% increase in the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for beneficiaries in 2026. That amounts to a gain of $56 per month for the typical retiree.