Nationally, about a third of the funding provided by the SUAs for home and community services is derived from the federal OAA with the remainder from state and other federal sources. In addition to a primary focus in each state on home and community based services, all SUAs have the mission to assure that individual older persons have their civil rights, autonomy and dignity protected, their claims to entitlements honored, and their contracts and covenants for care and benefits fulfilled. Legal Services Program offers advice, counsel and legal intervention to older persons on issues such as public benefits, health care, pensions financial exploitation, consumer problems, advanced directives and guardianship. These services are primarily provided by local legal service providers in the community funded by area agencies on aging. At the state level, SUAs have Legal Service Developers on staff to provide leadership in securing, maintaining, supporting and coordinating the provision of legal assistance.
Many states also operate statewide legal hotlines.
State Health Insurance Program intervenes and advocates for older consumers regarding Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare supplemental and long term care insurance and other health insurance issues. Funded by the federal Health Care Financing Administration, this program is administered by the SUAs in 36 states and by State Insurance Commissions in the other states through a network of highly trained volunteers at the community level. Most of these programs use state funds to subsidize a portion of the cost of prescription drugs, usually for a defined population that meets enrollment criteria. In most of these states, the SUA has responsibility of administering these programs. A central goal of all SUA's is to empower older people to make informed decisions about their own lives and to enable them to influence policymaking and program implementation at the state and local levels.