Administration on Aging

To make its June 1991 testimony on the Administration on Aging more widely available, GAO has published its remarks as a blue cover report. The Administration on Aging helps meet the special needs of the elderly by providing them with a wide array of social and nutritional services. These services have become increasingly important because the U.S. elderly population has grown nearly 65 percent since 1965. During the 1980s, however, the Administration on Aging experienced a significant decline in inflation-adjusted program funds. As a result, new programs and mandates are unfunded, key leadership positions are vacant, and the organization's monitoring capabilities are in question. Clearly, the ambitious aims of the Older Americans Act are being compromised by a shortage of resources. GAO believes that it is time to look realistically at what the Administration on Aging can do and how the agency's priorities for actions should be set, given available staffing, funding, and expertise.

GAO found that: (1) as mandated by the Older Americans Act, AOA helps meet the special needs of the elderly by providing them with a wide array of social and nutritional services; (2) the U.S. elderly population has increased by nearly 65 percent since the act's passage in 1965, making the provision of such services increasingly important; (3) to serve the rapidly growing elderly population, AOA has been expanded to provide more programs and services, engage in more extensive federal coordination, and conduct more program evaluation; (4) due to a significant decline in inflation-adjusted program funds, staffing, and travel funds, new programs and mandates are unfunded, key leadership positions are vacant, and AOA monitoring capabilities are in question; (5) staffing and travel constraints hinder AOA ability to provide technical assistance to state agencies on aging; (6) state officials identified such unmet technical assistance needs as targeting, data collection, and outreach initiatives to low-income and minority elders; and (7) AOA established 10 regional offices within the Department of Health and Human Services' regional office network to provide technical assistance to state agencies.