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Creates a new “Financial planning services” program under the Older Americans Act that lets the Assistant Secretary award grants to eligible entities to provide financial planning and counseling to older adults, family caregivers, and older relative caregivers. Grants must be used for direct financial counseling, benefit and public program navigation, assistance with budgeting and debt, planning for caregiving costs, targeted education, referrals, and must be offered in accessible formats; the bill references coordination with existing elder legal assistance and related centers.
Inserts a new section 415, “Financial planning services,” into Title IV of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (inserted after section 414).
Defines “family caregiver” to mean (A) an adult family member or another individual who is an informal provider of in‑home and community care to an older individual or to an individual of any age with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder with neurological and organic brain dysfunction, or (B) an older relative caregiver; and explicitly excludes individuals whose primary relationship with the care recipient is based on a financial or professional agreement.
Defines “older relative caregiver” as a caregiver who (A)(i) is age 55 or older and (A)(ii) lives with, is the informal provider of in‑home and community care to, and is the primary caregiver for, a child or an individual with a disability; (B) for a caregiver of a child, additional conditions: (i) is the grandparent, stepgrandparent, or other relative (other than the parent) by blood, marriage, or adoption, (ii) is primary caregiver because the child’s biological or adoptive parents are unable or unwilling to serve as the primary caregivers, and (iii) has a legal relationship to the child (legal custody, adoption, guardianship) or is raising the child informally; and (C) for a caregiver of an individual with a disability, is the parent, grandparent, or other relative by blood, marriage, or adoption of the individual with a disability.
Authorizes the Assistant Secretary to make grants to eligible entities to provide financial planning services related to the needs of family caregivers.
Specifies which entities are eligible to receive grants: a State or local government agency, a nonprofit organization, an area agency on aging, the provider of a multipurpose senior center, an institution of higher education, or a tribal organization.
Primary direct beneficiaries are older adults (including seniors) and the family or older-relative caregivers who support them. Community-based organizations, Area Agencies on Aging, tribal Title VI organizations, legal service providers, and nonprofit counseling agencies are likely to be eligible applicants and thus may receive new grant funding to expand services. The program will help clients access public benefits, manage budgets and debt, plan for long-term care costs, and receive referrals to legal or financial institutions — reducing confusion and financial vulnerability among caregiving households. Federal administrators (the Assistant Secretary and program staff) will need to develop application rules, program guidance, and monitoring systems. State and local agencies may see increased referrals and demand for complementary services; there is no direct appropriation in this section, so actual impact depends on future funding. Overall the program strengthens nonmedical supports for older adults and caregivers, potentially lowering unmet needs and delaying costly crises that arise from poor financial planning.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress November 20, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced in Senate