Everything You Need to Know About the Aid and Attendance Benefit

Do You Qualify for the Aid and Attendance Benefit?

The Aid and Attendance benefit is an added payout on top of your pension that could help you pay for care. Are you getting your full benefit?

Keyword(s): aid and attendance

Are you a veteran who served in WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam or Desert Storm? If you are you may qualify for benefits that you were not aware you had.

Are you paying all the high prices of long-term health care, assisted living, in home care, adult daycare or skilled nursing?

Then the Aid and Attendance benefit might be the remedy to offset those rising care expenses.

With this benefit you could be getting the help you need to make ends meet. Let's review how it can help you.

The Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit

Aid and attendance is a common term used for a little known veterans disability income benefit, though the official name is "Pension."

Many veterans or their single surviving spouses may qualify for the pension if they have an ongoing need for a caregiver or are housebound.

Proof must be provided and certified by the veterans administration. Their certification must be given as a "rating."

Without a rating, you still may qualify for the benefit, but these are designated for low-income households.

There is also a second income benefit available which is known as compensation, under the VA's guidelines.

It is a monthly award paid to the veteran to make up for potentially lost income in the private business sector because of an injury, disability or illness that occurred while in the service.

Many veterans have never applied for these benefits which even years later would still qualify.

Eligibility Requirements 

There are both financial and non-financial requirements for the veterans aid and attendance.

These requirements must be met by the veteran or the surviving spouse.

Non-Financial Qualifications

1. Must be 65 years of age or older except for a disabled veteran can be younger.
   
2. Must be a wartime veteran and have served between the dates listed.
   
   World War II: Dec 7, 1941 – Dec 31, 1946
   Korean War: Jun 27, 1950 - Jan 31, 1955
   Vietnam War: Aug 5, 1964 - May 7, 1975 (or Feb 28, 1961 – May 7, 1975, for Veterans who served in Vietnam)
   Gulf War: Aug 2, 1990 - Undetermined
   
3. Only veterans who have been honorably discharged can qualify.
   
4. You do not have to be disabled to apply, but disabled veterans will qualify for a higher benefit.
   
5. A surviving spouse must have been married to and living with the veteran at the time of death and must remain single at the time of a claim.
   

Financial Qualifications

These qualifications are effective from December 1, 2018 to November 30, 2019.

Limits apply to the Aid and Attendance, Housebound and Basic Pensions for both income and assets as set by the VA.

The income of the veteran and their spouses' income, if they are married, is countable income. The income amount cannot be greater than the benefit for which they have qualified.

Here is an example:

A veteran who is married that qualifies for the benefit in 2019 would be entitled to $26,765 less the vet and their spouses' income. If their combined income was $10,000, they are eligible to receive an additional $16,765.

But because the VA does allow for some deductions from countable income the benefit may increase, depending on the deductions.

How to Apply

The application process is long and complicated. To apply it is best to get help from a professional benefits adviser or planner.

Working with an adviser can make the process take much less time to get your benefits, increase the amount you're paid.

However, even if everything goes right, applicants will still wait about three months to begin receiving their payments.

Some people are put off from even applying because it is not uncommon for the applicant to have to wait an entire year, without the help of an adviser, before they begin receiving their benefit.

It doesn't have to take that long, and if you do go to an adviser, they will help shorten that time because they know the process and how to get it done.

They will save you a lot of time and extra effort.

You Have an Option While You Wait

Waiting sometimes is not an option, so if you need money right away, you can get a loan.

This might not sound great, but it can bridge the gap. Benefits are retroactive so your benefits will be paid in a lump sum from the day you were approved to the day you receive your first payment.

Because of the retroactive feature of the benefit, it is easy to get approved for a loan.

Possible Loss of Other Benefits

In case you did not already know, before you apply for veterans aid and attendance is that you can be disqualified for Medicaid or VA disability compensation.

You are not allowed to receive both the VA Disability compensation and VA Aid and Attendance Pension.

The pension may prohibit a veteran from getting Medicaid. A lot of times the amount of money received from the Aid & Attendance benefit will be more than the maximum amount of monthly income that would let you get Medicaid.

Family Members as Caregivers

You may be surprised to know that you can pay family members, besides your spouse, to be your caregiver.

Care expenses can be deducted from your income, including care expenses made to family members.

This will increase the pension benefit for beneficiaries by the amount paid to family members for care.

Retroactive Benefits

Besides the retroactive payment mentioned earlier where you will accrue starting the day you were approved.

In addition to that, if you can prove what you had to pay for medical care a year before when you will receive the first pension payment, you can obtain the retroactive benefit for that year.

What to Do Next

If you didn't know about the aid and attendance, hopefully now you have a better idea of how it can help you. 

There are plenty of resources available to help you work through the process.

A professional benefits adviser or planner will help speed up the process and navigate through all the paperwork.

The Veterans Administration has all the information you need, counseling and all the paperwork you'll need.

Local Veterans association or support group can provide you with recommendations for an adviser and give you moral support.

You or your spouse have served your country and deserve these benefits. Don't let them go unclaimed, contact us today to see how we can help you get started.