It costs a lot to grow older these days, with prices for prescription drugs, health care and utilities seemingly spiraling out of control.

Even though Medicare now offers prescription drug coverage, there are still stories of seniors cutting pills in half to stretch their medicine, waiting weeks to fill a prescription until their Social Security checks arrive, or even avoiding visits to the doctor, knowing that the medicine prescribed would be out of reach.

And to make matters even worse, millions of these older Americans especially those with lower incomes are eligible for benefits but not receiving them. There are programs that can aid these seniors if they only knew about them and how to apply for them including the new Medicare Prescription Drug coverage, property tax relief or even assistance in paying utility bills.

Now, thanks to BenefitsCheckUp, a free service on the Internet, there is help for seniors and their caregivers.

Developed by the non-profit National Council on Aging (NCOA) and used daily by hundreds of community and government organizations nationwide, BenefitsCheckUp is accessible online at www.BenefitsCheckUp.org and is the nation's most comprehensive Internet service to screen for federal, state and some local private and public benefits for older adults aged 55 and over.

"Help is out there, but efforts have not gone far enough to sign up lowincome seniors for prescription drug coverage and other benefits," said Stuart Spector, senior vice president of NCOA. "And the problem gets bigger as 60,000 people a month reach the age at which they become eligible for prescription drug coverage alone."

As such, BenefitsCheckUp contains over 1,350 different government programs, including programs from all 50 states (including the District of Columbia). On average there are 50 to 70 programs available to individuals per state.

To date, BenefitsCheckUp has screened 1.8 million individuals and 350,000 low-income seniors have received benefits as a result of the free online service. But many more would be eligible for help if they only knew about the programs.

With much recent media attention focused on getting seniors to enroll in the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage (also known as Part D), over three million people with Medicare didn't apply for the extra help available to those with limited income and resources.

The good news is that, unlike most people with Medicare, those who qualify for the extra help or low-income subsidy can continue to sign up for the program through the end of 2006 without having to pay a penalty. For others, the deadline to apply was May 15 and they must pay a one percent per month penalty for every month they don't apply.

Historical trends in government benefit programs show that many are plagued by low enrollment, even programs that have been available for decades. For example, only 60 percent of seniors who are eligible for health-care coverage under Medicaid are enrolled. The enrollment rate for the Food Stamp program is half that level.

Now, with a few simple clicks of a computer mouse, seniors, and people who care about them, can help change all this. For more information, visit www.BenefitsCheckUp.org on the Internet.