A new report shows that 17 million elderly Americans need government-funded meal services, but only 10 percent receive the assistance.

According to the report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), about 83 percent of them are confronted with food insecurity.

“An estimated 90 percent of low-income older adults do not receive meals services like those funded by Title III programs, according to our analysis of 2013 CPS data,” the GAO wrote in a report released Monday.

“About 83 percent do not receive meals among low-income adults who are food insecure, meaning they report three or more conditions such as skipping meals because they did not have enough money for food,” according to the report.

The analysis is the result of the most recent data from two national surveys, the 2013 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

The report requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders updated the GAO’s findings from another report issued in 2011 on older Americans’ need for services that were provided for by the Older Americans Act signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.

On Monday, Sanders called for the reauthorization of the legislation, which was last reauthorized in 2006, and expired in 2011.

“A nation is judged by how it cares for its most vulnerable, including the elderly and children. It is not acceptable that millions of elderly in this country are living in poverty and struggling to feed themselves,” Sanders said in a statement. “Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires we should be expanding nutrition programs and other services for seniors.”

In March, Sanders along with 32 other senators urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to increase funding in fiscal year 2016 for the programs created under the Older Americans Act by at least 12 percent over that of 2015, or $225 million more.

AT/AGB