Who to Call
Who to call
Ten free help lines that reach an actual person. Every one is national, so the same number works whatever state you live in, and it connects you to help near you. Nothing here costs anything and none of it requires signing up.
Call 211.
Three digits, anywhere in the country. A real person in your own community who knows what help exists near you, from rides to rent to in-home care.
Call 211 nowTen numbers worth keeping
This is the same list we print on the magnet that ships with AskSAMIE orders. Tap any number to call it.
Local help of any kind
Rent, food, utilities, rides, in-home help, and the local programs that have no national number. You reach a 211 center in your own community.
Disability information and access
Any disability, at any age, including children. Independent living, transportation, disability rights, food access, and benefits. Call, text, or use videophone for ASL.
Older adults and aging
Connects you to the Area Agency on Aging that covers your address. That office is the practical path to home-delivered meals, in-home help, caregiver respite, and questions about Medicaid waivers.
Medicare
Coverage, claims, plan changes, and what Medicare will and will not pay toward equipment. The same line as 1-800-MEDICARE.
Free Medicare counseling
Connects you to the State Health Insurance Assistance Program where you live. One-on-one help comparing plans, with no commission and nothing to sell you. The most useful number on this page in October.
Help for family caregiving
For any family caregiver, whatever the diagnosis and whatever the age of the person you care for. Useful when no condition-specific organization fits your situation.
Alzheimer's and dementia
A live person every hour of every day, including holidays, in more than 200 languages. Information, local resources, crisis help, and emotional support. Confidential.
Veterans' caregivers
The VA has real money and real programs for home modification and caregiver support. Most families never learn this line exists. Worth a call if there is a veteran in the house.
Children with disabilities
Birth to 26, any disability or chronic condition. Parents who have been through it help you work out what a plan covers and how to get equipment approved. There is a center in every state, DC, five territories, and three serving American Indian and Alaska Native families.
Mental health crisis
Call, text, or chat, any hour of any day. Free and confidential, answered by one of more than 200 local crisis centers. Veterans and their families can press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.
The help that changes by state
Some of the best programs have no national phone number, because they are run state by state. These are the official finders. We link straight to the source so what you find is always current.
State assistive technology program
Borrow a device before you buy it, try equipment in person, get refurbished gear, or apply for a low-interest loan. Every state runs one and almost nobody knows they exist.
Find your state programMedicaid and HCBS waivers
Home and community based services waivers can pay for home modifications, personal care, and equipment that Medicare will not. Rules and waiting lists vary a lot between states.
Learn about waiversYour state's SHIP
Free one-on-one Medicare counseling, under a different name in most states. Kansas calls it SHICK. Missouri was CLAIM until it became Missouri SHIP in 2023.
Find your state's officeParent Training and Information Center
IEPs, school services, early intervention, and disability rights, birth to 26. Nearly 100 centers cover every state and territory, and the help is free to families.
Find your centerFamily-to-Family Health Information Center
The local end of the children's line above. Staffed by parents who have navigated the same coverage fights, funded by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
Find your F2F centerTwo more worth knowing
Social Security at 800-772-1213 handles SSI for a disabled child as well as SSDI and retirement.
Shriners Children's at 800-237-5055 provides care regardless of your ability to pay or insurance status, for orthopedic conditions, spinal cord injury, burns, and cleft, up to age 18.
Deadlines that cost real money
Most of these land on the same dates every year. Two of them happen once in a lifetime, and missing those is expensive forever.
Every year, same dates
| When | What it is |
|---|---|
| Oct 15 to Dec 7 | Medicare Open EnrollmentAnyone on Medicare can switch Advantage or drug plans. Changes take effect January 1. This is the big one. |
| Jan 1 to Mar 31 | Medicare Advantage Open EnrollmentIf you are already in an Advantage plan you get one switch, or you can drop back to Original Medicare. Most people have no idea this second window exists. |
| Jan 1 to Mar 31 | Medicare General EnrollmentFor anyone who missed signing up at 65. |
| Nov 1 to Jan 15 | ACA Marketplace Open EnrollmentHealth coverage for people under 65, including early retirees and adult children who left work to provide care. |
| April 15 | Tax day, and property tax reliefSenior property tax relief is claimed through your tax filing. In Kansas that is the Homestead and SAFESR refunds, in Missouri the Property Tax Credit. Real money toward staying in a home. |
| Dec 31 | Required minimum distributionsWithdrawals you have to take from retirement accounts each year once they begin. Missing one triggers a stiff IRS penalty. |
Once in a lifetime, and easy to miss
| When | What it is |
|---|---|
| 7 months around 65 | Medicare Initial EnrollmentThe three months before your 65th birthday, your birthday month, and the three months after. Miss it and you pay a late penalty on Part B and Part D for the rest of your life. |
| 6 months from Part B | Medigap Open EnrollmentThe only federally guaranteed window to buy a Medicare supplement with no health questions asked. Miss it and insurers can turn you down or price you out permanently based on your health. It is the least known and arguably the costliest deadline in aging. |
Dates reflect current federal rules. Confirm anything that affects your own coverage with Medicare at 800-633-4227 or your state's SHIP counselor, who can walk through it with you at no cost.
The resources you need to make life easier
Every session with an OT is about the whole picture of your life. Yes equipment helps modify the environment but other problems are solved with a person or a service. To be as safe and as independent as possible you need multiple types of solutions.
Yes AskSAMIE sells equipment but we know you need more than that. So we wrote the answers down here, checked every number ourselves, and put it somewhere you can find it again.