Most people facing Alzheimer’s have never heard about a Veteran’s Benefit called a Special Monthly or Improved Pension. You may have heard the name “Aid and Attendance” tossed around, and it has sort of become this “mysterious” thing that people have heard exist but no one has any idea how to obtain the benefit.
Aid and Attendance is really a misnomer. The real program is a Special Monthly Pension (also called Improved Pension). Part of that program includes a higher level benefit for Veteran’s needing “Regular Aid and Attendance.” Now, it’s important not to confuse this VA Pension with a VA Disability Pension where the Veteran has been rated disabled due to an injury that occured during a wartime period.
Instead, this is a program that provides for long-term care costs for a Veteran who was not injured during war but is now disabled. This is a really great program for Alzheimer’s. Many families living with Alzheimer’s want to keep their loved one at home for as long as possible. Or, they want to move their mom or dad into a good assisted living facility. Home health care and assisted living can cost tremendous amounts of money. But, if you qualify for this VA benefit, it can provide up to about $1,800 per month for a married couple, about $1,500 per month for a single Veteran and nearly $1,000 per month for the widow or widower of a wartime Veteran.
This can go a long way to keeping your loved one with Alzheimer’s at home longer or at a quality assisted living facility.
For more information on Paying For Alzheimer’s Care and to get my FREE ebook now, head on over to http://www.PayingForAlzheimersCare.com
Filed under: Alzheimer's and Veteran's Benefits | Tagged: Aid & Attendance, Alzheimer's Disease, alzheimers, assisted living, home health care, Veteran's Benefits
my husband is a veteran. can we put our assest in a
trust to quality for aid and attendance.
he is a alzheimer patient and does get his medicine from the va in baton rouge louisiana
Dear Geraldine,
In general, you can use a variety of methods to have assets under an acceptable level for VA qualification. Use of a trust is just one method commonly used. For VA qualification you have to look at two things: 1) Income-your income must be under what they call the Maximum Annual Pension Rate. So if your husband is in need of “Regular Aid and Attendance,” then you are potentially entitled to the Maximum Annual Pension Rate of $1,842 per month. But in order to qualify, your income must be less than $1,842 per month. However, it’s important to remember that the VA allows you to subtract all Unreimbursed Medical Expenses from your gross income. Typically, a family facing Alzheimer’s has very high expenses and can easily qualify on the income side once they subtract Unreimbursed Medical Expenses. 2) Assets-Assets for a married couple must be about $80,000 or less not including a home. That’s where planning and use of trusts and other documents can come into play.
It’s very important to note that while the VA does not have strict rules about how, where or to whom you transfer income or assets to qualify for VA, Medicaid has very strict rules. Many people facing Alzheimer’s will go on to need Medicaid paid nursing home care. The main message is: if you are going to try and qualify for a VA Pension, you must do so in a way that does not prevent you from receiving Medicaid down the line.
I wish I would have known more about this last summer, I placed my husband in a nursing home that took veterans as long as he was on Hospice too.
I really don’t know what the VA did besides providing his med’s which they were doing anyway.
He passed in October.
I’m very sorry to hear about your husband passing. Yes, the VA benefit is something that not too many people know about and it can really help offset some costs. I’ll be providing more instruction on the VA benefit in the next month or so.