Newsroom Highlights
Benefits Data Trust Marks Milestone in Quest to Help Seniors;
200,000 Seniors Helped
Eligible Low-income Seniors benefit from more than $450 million in Government Benefits
Philadelphia, PA, August 10, 2010
Benefits Data Trust (BDT) has completed more than 200,000 benefit applications on behalf of low income seniors across the nation. The local non-profit identifies and assists seniors eligible for state and federal benefits by contacting them through mail and by phone then completing their benefits applications.
BDT was established in 2005 by local entrepreneur Warren G. Kantor who envisioned enrolling all eligible seniors in the benefit programs they deserve. Kantor’s unique experience in the private sector translated into effective outreach and application methods yet to be tapped in the public sector.
“Reaching the 200,000 mark is a major milestone for BDT, but there are still so many seniors to help,” said Warren G. Kantor, Founder of BDT. “Right here in Pennsylvania we have completed 145,000 benefits applications on behalf of eligible seniors who are able to ease their financial burdens just a bit through enhanced or additional benefits. We are extremely proud of this work, but we have identified more than one million seniors in Pennsylvania alone who could benefit from SNAP (formerly food stamps), federal and state prescription assistance programs and property tax rebates.”
Click here to view the full Press Release
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A friend in benefits
Benefits Data Trust is a sort of secret-pal fairy godmother of government programs, finding eligible seniors and guiding them through complicated enrollments.
Philadelphia, PA, July 12, 2010, by Paul Jablow
Warren Kantor remembers the seed being planted sometime in the 1970s.
His widowed mother was struggling financially as a salesperson at Gimbels department store, and Kantor helped her fill out a lengthy application to get lower-cost prescriptions through Pennsylvania's PACE program.
He did this for the next 15 years as he was making his fortune, literally, in the credit card industry.
Then, his finances assured and seeking opportunities to give back, he found a way to help thousands of people just as he had helped his mother.
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Extra Help to Keep Extra Help:
Assisting LIS Beneficiaries Who Lose Their Deemed Status
National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment . July 2010
Summary:
Many people with Medicare automatically receive Extra Help (also called the Low-Income Subsidy, LIS) because they have Medicaid, such as one of the Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). If they are no longer eligible for Medicaid, MSP and/or SSI, persons may lose their deemed LIS status despite still qualifying for Extra Help. These individuals are at risk of losing their LIS benefits if they do not affirmatively apply for LIS. This issue brief discusses some promising initiatives that use list-driven personalized communications to help low-income beneficiaries adversely affected by the re-deeming process regain and retain LIS.
Click here to view the full Issue Brief and access related links
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New Pilot Project Will Help DPW Identify Philadelphia Seniors Who Are Eligible for Food Assistance
Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2010
Thousands of Philadelphia senior citizens living on limited incomes could receive help paying for nutritious food under a pilot project involving federal, state and local partners, Pennsylvania Secretary of Public Welfare Harriet Dichter announced today.
“Many older adults are struggling to buy nutritious foods on a tight budget, but they may not be aware assistance is available,” Secretary Dichter said. “This pilot project will help identify and reach out to those seniors to help them receive the fullest benefits for which they are eligible.”
The pilot project will increase participation in the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by using innovative technology....
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BenePhilly Initiative Receives $500,000 in USDA Funding
BenePhilly Helps Eligible Seniors Apply for Federal And State Assistance Programs
Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2010
Today, Mayor Michael A. Nutter and officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) received a $500,000, two year grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. These dollars will help fund BenePhilly, a joint initiative between the City and Commonwealth to enroll the thousands of low-income Philadelphians eligible for, but not receiving, valuable federal and state benefits. BenePhilly hopes to use these dollars to help seniors apply for SNAP, the federal food assistance program, as well as PACE and Medicare prescription drug programs, and Pennsylvania’s property tax and rent rebates. Since its inception, BenePhilly has assisted seniors in completing 13,500 benefit applications, worth more than $32 million in benefits.
“I am proud that the federal government has recognized the success of BenePhilly and awarded the City and DPW half a million dollars to continue its important work,” said Mayor Nutter. “These are hard times financially for many Philadelphians, but particularly seniors....
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New York State Health Foundation Names Medicare Rights Center Project as One of Its Ten "Best of 2009"
New York, NY, January 28, 2010
The New York State Health Foundation has named its grant to the Medicare Rights Center as one of its ten “strongest achievements” in its “Best of 2009” Annual Report. With funding from the New York State Health Foundation, Medicare Rights partnered with the Benefits Data Trust and New York State’s Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program to identify and enroll older New Yorkers in programs that help them with their Medicare-related expenses. These programs, the Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) and the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy program (LIS, also known as “Extra Help”), are designed to help people with limited incomes get the health care and medications they need, but are greatly underutilized by those who might benefit from them. “There are many reasons why enrollment in MSPs and Extra Help are consistently low, ...
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Penn’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy Names Benefits Data Trust as Worthy of Investment
Philadelphia, PA, December 1, 2009
Benefits Data Trust (BDT), a regional non-profit that connects seniors to valuable government benefits programs, has been cited by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy as one of a group of non-profits that are models of efficient and effective philanthropy. The guide profiles the BDT model, which signs seniors up for multiple benefits, as a highly effective avenue for today’s results-oriented philanthropists who are looking to relieve the suffering caused by the economic crisis.
Click here to read the full Press Release and access related links
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In cooperation with the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and the PA Dept of Public Welfare, BDT will engage in a two-year demonstration project to develop a new model of enrolling seniors in SNAP (Food Stamps).
Funding for Pilots to Reach Underserved Elderly and Working Poor
Washington - September 17, 2009
BenePhilly SNAP Proposal Summary
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GOVERNING: CONNECTING AMERICA'S LEADERS
Mending Safety Nets with Technology
How a nonprofit start-up turned a process full of vertical hurdles into a client-centric safety net
By Feather O'Connor Houstoun | September 9, 2009
As a recovering public official who worked across many different program areas, I’ve often marveled at how often we continue to rationalize continuation of practices that should have been overtaken by the advance of technology. Sometimes the reason for missing an innovation opportunity is resources, but more often it’s more a case of a failure to take a look at the problem from a different perspective.
One example recently reverse-engineered through technology has been the siloed eligibility determination processes that operate across multiple federal and state agencies. Each agency– or in some cases, its third party vendor – requires low income applicants to know of and find the agency “window,” get the application and understand the bureaucratic language, fill it out, assemble the required documentary material, sign and often appear in person to finally be approved – or not...
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