For decades, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has operated on a simple promise: if you are an older adult on a fixed income, you don’t have to choose between your medicine and your dinner. However, on January 1, 2026, that promise was fundamentally rewritten. Under the sweeping provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the federal government has implemented the most aggressive expansion of work requirements in the history of food assistance, specifically targeting adults who were previously considered “exempt” due to their age.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that this shift will result in a “purge” of approximately 800,000 older adults from the SNAP rolls in a typical month. These are not individuals who have suddenly found new wealth; they are seniors who simply cannot navigate the new, complex bureaucracy of “work verification.” If you are between the ages of 55 and 64, your EBT card is no longer a guaranteed right—it is now a “work-contingent” benefit that requires constant, active documentation.
The End of the “Age 55” Exemption
Before the OBBBA took effect, SNAP rules recognized that workers in their late 50s and early 60s often face age discrimination or health limitations that make consistent employment difficult. Because of this, anyone over the age of 54 was exempt from the “Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents” (ABAWD) work rules. Starting this month, that age limit has been raised to 64, pulling nearly a million more people into a system that requires 80 hours of work per month.
This means that a 62-year-old grandmother who has been out of the workforce for five years is now expected to find a part-time job or a certified volunteer position immediately. If she cannot prove she is working at least 20 hours a week, she is limited to only three months of benefits in a three-year period. For many seniors who live in rural areas with limited transportation or few jobs, this “time limit” is essentially a countdown to hunger.
The Removal of “Good Cause” Waivers
In the past, states could request “geographic waivers” for areas with high unemployment, allowing residents in struggling towns to keep their food stamps even if they couldn’t find work. The OBBBA has virtually eliminated these waivers, as reported by Think Global Health. Unless an area has an unemployment rate exceeding 10%, the work requirements must be strictly enforced, regardless of how many local factories have closed.
This “one-size-fits-all” approach ignores the reality of the 2026 labor market for older workers. Even in cities with low unemployment, seniors often struggle to find entry-level positions that provide the consistent 20 hours a week required by the law. If an employer cuts your hours to 15 one week due to slow business, you are technically in violation of the federal rule and risk losing your eligibility entirely.
The Narrowing of the “Dependent Child” Definition
The SNAP Purge isn’t just affecting single seniors; it is hitting “kinship caregivers”—grandparents raising their grandchildren—the hardest. Under the new OBBBA rules, a parent or caregiver is only exempt from work requirements if their youngest child is under the age of 14. Previously, the exemption lasted until the child turned 18, acknowledging that teenagers still require significant supervision and care.
This change means that a 60-year-old grandfather raising a 15-year-old grandson must now work 80 hours a month to keep the household’s food benefits. If he is unable to find work that fits around the school schedule or his own health needs, the entire family’s SNAP allotment can be slashed. It is a “cliff” that many caregivers simply weren’t prepared for, leading to a sudden loss of hundreds of dollars in food support this January.
The Burden of “Paperwork Compliance”
For many of the 800,000 seniors facing benefit loss, the issue isn’t a lack of willingness to work—it is the sheer weight of the paperwork. To maintain your benefits in 2026, you must submit monthly verification of your hours, which often requires a signature from an employer or a volunteer coordinator. According to Propel, “administrative churning”—where people lose benefits due to filing errors rather than ineligibility—is expected to skyrocket.
Many older adults who do have health issues that should exempt them are finding that getting a doctor to fill out the specific “Medically Unfit for Work” form is a challenge. If the form isn’t coded perfectly, the state’s automated system will trigger a denial. This “documentation trap” is effectively purging the most vulnerable seniors who may have cognitive or physical barriers to managing a monthly federal reporting requirement.
Fighting the Purge with “Workfare”
If you find yourself subject to these new rules and cannot find a traditional job, you may be able to keep your benefits through “Workfare.” This allows you to perform volunteer work for a public or non-profit agency for a set number of hours each month. Your required hours are calculated by dividing your monthly SNAP allotment by the state’s minimum wage.
For a senior receiving $200 in SNAP in a state with a $15 minimum wage, this would mean volunteering about 13 hours a month. While this is less than the 80-hour general requirement, you must be officially enrolled in a state-sanctioned Workfare program for the hours to count. Contact your local social services office immediately to see if you can be placed in a Workfare slot before your three months of “untracked” benefits run out this spring.
Surviving the New SNAP Era
The 2026 SNAP Purge is a stark reminder that the rules of the safety net have changed. If you are under 65, the government now views you as a “worker first” and a “beneficiary second.” To protect your access to food, you must be relentless in documenting your hours, seeking medical exemptions for any chronic pain or disability, and staying in constant contact with your caseworker. In this new era of the OBBBA, the only way to keep your seat at the table is to prove, every single month, that you are following the new rules of the game.
Has your local SNAP office sent you a notice about new work requirements or a change in your “exempt” status? Leave a comment below and share how you are navigating these 2026 rule changes!
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