What this tool is

The Benefits Finder on this page is a free educational tool. You answer a short set of general questions — your state, roughly how many people live in your household, your approximate age, and a little about your circumstances — and it returns a plain-language list of assistance programs you may want to learn about. Nothing is submitted to anyone. There is no fee, no account, and no obligation. Think of it as a reading list: here are the programs that exist, here is roughly who each one was designed for, and here is where to find information on the details.

Who tends to find it useful

We built this page around the people who call our line most often. Adults who are blind or living with low vision, who want to understand what support exists beyond what a doctor's office is able to explain in a fifteen-minute appointment. Older adults on a fixed income, particularly anyone juggling several prescriptions at once and watching the monthly total climb. Family members and caregivers researching on someone else's behalf — an aging parent, a spouse, an adult child — who need one plain starting point instead of a dozen separate agency websites. And people who have only recently lost vision, who have never had a reason to look into assistance programs before and do not yet know the vocabulary well enough to search for it.

The kinds of assistance it can surface

The programs described in the database fall into several broad categories:

• Prescription and medication help — information on programs that exist to reduce drug costs, including manufacturer assistance and state pharmaceutical programs.
• Utility and energy assistance — seasonal heating and cooling help, weatherization, and utility hardship programs.
• Housing and rent help — rental assistance, home repair and accessibility modification programs, and property tax relief for older homeowners.
• Food assistance — household nutrition programs, plus separate programs aimed specifically at seniors.
• Medicare savings programs — learn about the programs designed to help with Medicare premiums, deductibles, and prescription drug costs.
• Transportation — paratransit, reduced-fare, and medical transport services, which matter a great deal once driving is no longer an option.
• In-home care and support — home health aides, personal care attendants, adult day services, and respite for the family members doing the caring.
• Disability services — vocational rehabilitation, assistive technology programs, and state services for people who are blind or visually impaired.

Please read this before you begin

Heritage for the Blind is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 58-2164446. We are not a government agency and we are not affiliated with one. We do not administer any government program, we do not process paperwork on anyone's behalf, and we do not determine who is or is not eligible for anything. Only the agency that runs a given program can make that determination.

Everything here is general educational information. Program names, eligibility rules, funding levels, and waiting lists change constantly, and they differ from one state — sometimes one county — to the next. For that reason we do not quote dollar figures and we cannot promise that any program shown will turn out to be available to you. Use the results to see what you may qualify for and to find information on where to read further, then confirm the current details directly with the program or agency itself.

If reading through this on your own is difficult, you are welcome to call us at (800) 236-6283 Monday through Friday and a person will walk through it with you.