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Where can seniors get help in Florida?

Call the Elder Helpline, 1-800-96-ELDER (1-800-963-5337). Florida's 11 Area Agencies on Aging work as Aging and Disability Resource Centers, the first place to ask about services for older adults and their caregivers; the Department of Elder Affairs lists each one with its phone number.

Group meals are served to Floridians 60 and older and their spouses, and home-delivered meals go to homebound older Floridians; donations are encouraged. Community Care for the Elderly helps people 60 and older with functional limits, with case management, adult day care, homemaker help, home-delivered meals and transportation. A caregiver of someone 60 or older can get support, including in-home respite through the RELIEF program, and the Alzheimer's Disease Initiative offers respite and memory disorder clinics.

SHINE, the state's free, unbiased and confidential Medicare counseling, is reached through the same Elder Helpline. To report abuse, neglect or exploitation of an older adult, call the Florida Abuse Hotline, 1-800-962-2873, which takes reports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or report online.

Where to go from here.

Generated image of a volunteer counselor going through papers with a retired man at a table in a bright community center.01

Where can I get free help with Medicare in Florida?

From SHINE, Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders, a free program of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and the local Area Agencies on Aging.

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Generated image of a woman visiting her elderly mother, the two of them laughing over cups of tea in the sunny common room of an assisted living residence.02

How do I check a nursing home or assisted living facility in Florida?

Look it up on FloridaHealthFinder, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration's site, before you visit.

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Golf carts and cars on Canal Street at Lake Sumter Landing in The Villages, Florida.03

Where do retirees live in Florida?

Retirees are spread across the state, but some counties are far older than others.

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Where this comes from.

More questions like this.

What benefits do veterans get in Florida?

A veteran with a service-connected total and permanent disability pays no property tax on the homestead, and there are other property tax breaks for veterans, in the answer on them.

How many people live in Florida?

About 23.4 million. The Florida Legislature, using the University of Florida's estimates, counted 23,379,261 people on April 1, 2025, up from 21,538,187 in the 2020 Census.

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