II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 473
To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include screening for loneliness
and coordination of supportive services and health care to address the
negative health effects of loneliness, to require a report on loneliness,
and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY6 (legislative day, FEBRUARY5), 2025
Mr. S
COTTof Florida (for himself, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to include
screening for loneliness and coordination of supportive
services and health care to address the negative health
effects of loneliness, to require a report on loneliness,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Social Engagement 4
and Network Initiatives for Older Relief Act’’ or the 5
‘‘SENIOR Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. SCREENING OLDER INDIVIDUALS FOR LONELINESS 1
AND COORDINATION OF SUPPORTIVE SERV-2
ICES AND HEALTH CARE TO ADDRESS LONE-3
LINESS. 4
Section 102(14)(N) of the Older Americans Act of 5
1965 (42 U.S.C. 3002(14)(N)) is amended by inserting 6
‘‘and loneliness’’ after ‘‘social isolation’’ each place it ap-7
pears. 8
SEC. 3. REPORT ON LONELINESS. 9
(a) P
REPARATION OFREPORT.— 10
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, in car-11
rying out activities under section 206(a) of the Older 12
Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3017(a)), pre-13
pare a report— 14
(A) on programs authorized by such Act 15
(42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), and supported or 16
funded by the Administration on Aging, that in-17
clude a focus on addressing the negative health 18
effects associated with loneliness through tar-19
geting older individuals identified as being in 20
greatest social need, as appropriate; and 21
(B) that examines the relationship between 22
the strength of multigenerational family units 23
and loneliness in older individuals. 24
(2) I
MPACT.—Such report shall identify— 25
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(A) whether loneliness is being adequately 1
addressed under the programs described in 2
paragraph (1)(A), including, to the extent prac-3
ticable— 4
(i) the prevalence of loneliness across 5
geographic areas; 6
(ii) the negative physical and mental 7
health effects associated with loneliness; 8
and 9
(iii) the role of preventive measures 10
and services under this Act in addressing 11
the negative health effects associated with 12
loneliness among older individuals; and 13
(B) public awareness of and efforts to ad-14
dress the negative health effects associated with 15
loneliness. 16
(3) T
YPES OF PROGRAMS .—Such report shall 17
identify whether programs described in paragraph 18
(1)(A)— 19
(A) support projects in local communities 20
and involve diverse sectors associated with such 21
communities to decrease the negative health ef-22
fects associated with loneliness among older in-23
dividuals and caregivers; 24
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(B) support outreach activities to screen 1
older individuals for negative health effects as-2
sociated with loneliness; and 3
(C) include a focus on decreasing the nega-4
tive health effects associated with loneliness. 5
(4) R
ECOMMENDATIONS .—Such report shall, as 6
appropriate, include— 7
(A) recommendations for reducing the neg-8
ative health effects associated with loneliness 9
and to address any negative health effects iden-10
tified under clauses (ii) and (iii) of subpara-11
graph (A), and subparagraph (B), of paragraph 12
(2); and 13
(B) recommendations for policies or pro-14
grams that foster strong and stable connections 15
across different generations in a family. 16
(b) S
UBMISSION OFREPORT.— 17
(1) I
NTERIM STATUS REPORT .—Not later than 18
2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 19
Secretary shall submit an interim report, to the com-20
mittees of the Senate and of the House of Rep-21
resentatives with jurisdiction over the Older Ameri-22
cans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), and the 23
Special Committee on Aging of the Senate, on the 24
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status of the evaluation underway to develop the 1
final report required under this section. 2
(2) F
INAL REPORT.—Not later than 5 years 3
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-4
retary shall submit a final report that meets the re-5
quirements of this section to the committees of the 6
Senate and of the House of Representatives with ju-7
risdiction over the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 8
U.S.C. 3001 et seq.) and the Special Committee on 9
Aging of the Senate. 10
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 11
terms ‘‘greatest social need’’, ‘‘older individual’’, and 12
‘‘Secretary’’ have the meanings given such terms in sec-13
tion 102 of the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 14
3002). 15
Æ
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