Health Guide News

A veteran is eligible for several benefits through the government. The benefits the veteran receive include the following but aren’t limited to,  disability compensation, pension, education and training, loans, healthcare, insurance, and vocational rehabilitation, employment, and a proper burial. There’s a type of pension that’s entitled  Aid and Attendance. The program offers help for elderly or disabled veterans who can’t adequately take care of themselves. The pension is to assist in paying for their long-term care: home care, nursing homes or assisted living. This benefit is paid to the veteran monthly together with their pension and cannot be offered without the pension benefits.

The government realizes that elderly veterans are in need of another person to do personal functions needed for everyday living like bathing, feeding, dressing, attending to the wants of nature, adjusting prosthetic devices, or protecting themselves from the potential dangers of one’s daily living environment.

There is also another type of pension that is called the Housebound Benefits. This extra monthly monetary pension allowance can be added to a veteran’s monthly pension if the veteran is confined to their immediate premises due to permanent disability. The other qualification would be that their annual family net income should be below the limits that are set by law, the limits are as follows: wartime service veteran with no dependents: below $15,773 and  w artime service veteran with one dependent: below $19,770.

Many elderly veterans are not quite aware of the difference between these two benefits that are available to them, the Aid & Attendance and the Housebound Pension. The main difference between these two is the care and also the payment rates. In order to get an Aid and Attendance pension, the concerned veteran must need assistance to perform the daily living activities like dressing or bathing. While for the Housebound pension, he or she must be confined substantially in their immediate premise due to permanent disability.

The VA benefits for the elderly are able to cater for a portion of expenses of the nursing home care. This is only if the veteran or the surviving spouse has been catering for the expenses from their pocket. Though you will find in some rare cases, where assisted living expenses are not reimbursed by the insurance company, that’s when the VA pension comes in to assist and allow the veteran or the surviving spouse to live an affordable comfortable and assisted living. The VA can also give caregivers (spouses or close family members) tax free monetary assistance that is supposed to assist them to care of the veterans or the surviving spouse. The claimant though must be able to meet the eligibility requirements that have been set by the VA in order to get the money.

The veterans are not limited to pick a VA facility, they can pick any nursing home that they deem to be most convenient to them. Also, the provider doesn’t need to be a VA certified one, and any physician is able to document the care that is needed by the claimant. The nursing facilities costs will then be catered for by the VA Department, which applies to veterans and living spouses who are in independent living or assisted living.

One option for housing is state-owned veteran homes. The VA’s are licensed through the state.

and are able to meet the skilled or intermediate nursing services that are offered in the private sector nursing homes in their state.  Some of the services that are offered by the Veterans’ homes include but aren’t limited to being help with bathing and dressing, meal prep, medication reminders, transportation, companionship, housekeeping and more!

In the United States, we are constantly revising to ensure that our veterans are receiving the most honorable living situations and quality of life.