The info I have is a couple o years old but says a couple can get up to $2100, Vet only $1700, surviving spouse $1200. None of these amounts will cover the complete cost of an AL or nursing home. It can be used for homecare. I was told to callmy local VFW and there should be an officer who can help with the application.

avcidy, my vet's not on hospice either but was a suggestion made by the home care agency the home health care agency recommended in order to get in-home care since having problems getting the Aid & Attendance but need has to be documented of course, which originally said would be preferable to have a "new incident", which seemed to be having at the time and tried to get documented but local primary VA physician wouldn't do because wouldn't believe had happened, which hospice confirmed to be the case with all the local VA physicians, why they go through the actual hospice physician, although wasn't told that initially in talking with their social worker, rather than nurse put through to this time; however she didn't mention the "care" that was mentioned before because turns out when I did it really isn't - only "strictly" sitting, no care allowed, so...still possibly back to square one, leading us back to just where we were before

hi debdaughter my husband was never on hospice & back in 81 & 82 the VA was not helpful for me, truth won & I was able to get %100 for him. thanks for listening

wow, avcidy, hospice is supposed to be getting the hospital records for the vet been working with/for; hopefully will hear soon, at least for veteran, technically considered disabled at 65, whether are actually or not, but priority goes up with age, definitely crosses over at 80, so not sure exactly where 76 would fall and not really sure how works with widow but still have to have need documented

Having been through a JAG investigation yrs ago, to prove my husband {the veteran} was a service related case, was exhausting, I traveled from hospital to hospital with suite cases of records, {I won} now it would be nice to find out who is eligible or not for aid & assistance in simple speak. Thank you for any clear info.

well I am the widow spouse of %100 disabled vet who died in 1981. I am 76yrs old, Could I {as you mentioned} be considered disabled, even if I am not disabled ? Does the VA really honer this benefit ?

exhausted, so her expenses were being paid for out of her savings?

sunnyTexas, my Mom just started receiving her benefits, so I know it can be done. It took us two years of tweaking paperwork, but we also had to wait till her funds got low enough to actually send in the application. She gets the normal $1,100 per month. We had application help from the local Masonic organization, which has volunteers who painstakingly walk you through the process. You have to have legal proof of precisely everything (his honorable discharge, dates of service, marriage license, death certificate, you name it), as well as three months' receipts of all her expenses and needs. It's very tedious. We couldn't have done it without the Masonic assistance.

I am just starting the process for my mom (my dad was in active duty in WWII) and she is eligible if a doctor confirms she meets the aid and attendance eligibility, and also any income and financial assets (a few things are not counted, such as a house). You can start this process before she is actually placed in care, but she still must meet all the requirements for approval.

Scrimble, not sure what you mean by disqualify; I wouldn't think she would qualify now, with her LTC paying for her AL; the VA benefit is designed for need; however, since it is her LTC and will run out and it takes a while to get the VA benefit started, you might want to go ahead and talk to them to see if you can use that as an expense now to show you will need it then but also you probably should be talking to the facility; they often have arrangments for the A&A as well

My dad served during WWII and since he has passed my mom would qualify. My question is this,
My mom who is currently living in an memory care ALF using long term care insurance, would VA benefits apply once her LTC insurance is exhausted and she is still living in her ALF? Or would this disqualify her? She would have no other assets at this time after the 3 years her LTC insurance is done other than what equity is available in her home once it sells, which is probably not a lot.

the amount of assets they can have depends on their age - starting out when they are eligible at 65 it's $80,000; by the time they're 80 it can only be $ 40,000

I am in the process of trying to get Aid and Attendance benefits for my mother since last August 2014. The information of what is needed is on the VA website. I knew to get my father's discharge paperwork a few years ago. There was a fire in a warehouse where discharge records were stored several years ago so it can be a long process to get a copy. In my father's case he served in the Army during WW2 and somewhere along the line the Navy had made copies of the discharge papers and they were sent to me. You also need your parents marriage license, 1099 from SS and a death certificate if the veteran has died. The veteran must have served in a declared war zone. The VA does not recognize POA so you must have a third party represent you for the initial application. I went to my local VFW or filing. If you are thinking about applying for benefits hurry up and file a letter in intent to file so that the clock starts ticking, if approved you get $ retro active to the date of intent to file. You will have 1 year to submit all of the necessary forms. Every time they kick back your application it takes 3-4 months to hear back from the VA. Medical expenses must exceed monthly income, and other than owning a house all other assets need to be below a certain amount. What this amount seems to vary when I asked.
If you even think that you loved one would qualify it is best to start earlier rather than later. It is a hurry up and wait to see but I am trying to not get upset with it.
Good Luck to anyone who applying!

Just had a thought...does he have medals or campaign (ot sure what they r called). These show where he fought.

This may sound weird, but did u look in his wallet? Both my Dad had a miniture version of their discharges that fit in their wallets. Does he have a safety deposit box ur not aware off?

Me personally have my registration and insurance cards in my car. My Mom and MIL...in their wallets. Caused a problem when we went to use MILs car and no cards. Called SIL because she had taken MILs purse to see if in the wallet and they were.

reston, has your dad been in the VA Health Care system?

This has been helpful. Unfortunately, when I applied, I could not locate my father's discharge papers. The VA says they have no records. My father served in WWII and is now 94 years old and dying. He has too much money to qualify for aid. i just want to be sure we will be able to get a plaque and a flag when he is buried

I have been working with older adults and meeting their needs for twenty years. In that time I have come to know that the VA is there to assist families in completing the paperwork. They are not there to advise or advocate for the family. If a family has a complicated care or financial issue you would be wise to see an eldercare attorney who is well versed in the Aid & Attendance benefit. The rules on eligibility and various what if's fill an entire book! You can find an eldercare attorney through the national association of elder law attorneys. I would suggest making sure the attorney specializes in this benefit.

Very informative!! I only heard about this when after 5 yrs. of caregiving for my mom with diabetes & Alzheimer's that I had to look into assisted living & the facility asked if I knew about VA benefits. No, I never knew until then. When I applied for them it took 10 mos. & tons of paper work to start getting anything but several mos. finally came retroactively & then she got a monthly allotment until her death in Jan.2014. Now I am prepared if anything happens to my husband since he served during Viet Nam war. I would advise anyone to keep this info handy & even printing it for future use.

PS to Giveahug...They say it costs nothing but when you get close to the end, they request a donation, which I don't blame them for. The volunteers put in a ton of work on your behalf.

We've been to the seminars, which made this sound cut and dried, easy peasy, with their help, and we had the application aides for two years. This is with qualified assistants. Every time we got close, they threw more stipulations at us. Those seminars are what sucked us in. I'm just spent...reached my limit...can't take any more. People think waterboarding is bad...it can't be much worse than this. Good luck and best wishes to all you that want to try it.

I wonder if the American Legion are different in different places; the one where my dad was said when the state Veterans Affairs Departments were set up they turned everything over to them; fortunately in our situation the former American Legion rep became the State VA rep, hence we were still able to use the same person; he was just no longer with the American Legion and down here where I am it seems to be the same thing, at least that's what the State VA reps at 2 different local offices told me, that they rep for the American Legion; my dad had actually signed the rep form with them years before when he first entered the VA system and originally tried to get a pension then so turns out I would have had a hard time doing it myself anyway and it is true, the VA (federal) is/has changed some of their forms, supposedly with the idea of streamlining and making everything easier, so do not keep that in mind in getting forms from anywhere other than the official VA website. Also, I believe to get fiduciary the veteran's doc has to specifically state that the veteran has to have help managing his financial affairs, which wasn't done in our case on his initial physician's report form because he still was; he just didn't understand the VA stuff. There isn't an official book from the VA because they want you to go through an authorized VA rep that they have trained, but one of those, not an outside company trying to sell you annuities, even though, yes, they're often better trained than the official VA reps.

Thank you for a great site to vent and learn. It’s honest.

The VA A&A process is for the determined and it requires a great rep who knows the ropes.

Trying to get through to a rep on the 800# is difficult so I used their site to locate a local VA rep in person. I visited the county American Legion who is in direct contact with the VA and can either fax forms or submit them on their computers. The process is still very slow, but it helps to talk to a person face to face that has real experience.

To use the American Legion, you must submit an “Appointment of Veterans Service Organization as Claimant’s Representative” so they can process your information for you. They can tell you what forms you need, check your forms for completeness, and check the status of the process – and talk to you.

You can also submit an “Authorization to Disclose Personal Information to a Third Party” so that you can talk directly to the VA until you are granted fiduciary powers. The VA web site does list numbers for fiduciary “Hubs” in your area with some very nice & helpful folks. However, the process takes lots of time.

Unfortunately, there is not a book “VA A&A 101” and lots of misinformation on the internet. From the web, it seems we should all beware any group that sells annuities.

Hang in there. A small benefit can help a veteran a lot.

yes, exhausted, don't know who you've been going through but at age 90 they're supposed to be automatically expedited anyway even without going through your congressman; we didn't have to and certainly didn't take us that long; we just went through dad's local VSO - have you tried that? - and he didn't even know you could get it if you weren't in assisted living; with the A&A he was able to stay at home as well, so it sounds like it's the company you're going through, not the A&A that's the issue, although I did first learn about this through a seminar held at a local nursing home, hosted by it sounds like somebody like you're going through, which don't believe is somebody from the actual VA; they wouldn't be trying to sell you an annuity but a private company would be but not sure who's coming up with her life expectancy - my dad lived longer than anybody in his family so if they'd been using that as some type of formula not sure how they would have handled that because by that he shouldn't have even still been here at all; not sure how much money your mom has but we didn't have to deal with him having too much but do know they do base how much you can have on your age; like think somebody else on here said had, they told me $40K max at 80 but would be less than that in 90s so if have more than that then, yes, these companies are set up to manage your funds in such a way to make you eligible for the benefit, like buying an annuity; otherwise the VA would just expect you to use your own funds because, yes, this is a needs-based benefit, not something just because you served, like so many veterans and their families think - not saying shouldn't be, just saying it isn't - it's to help the veterans who really need it and I know what's said, that those who worked to have something shouldn't be penalized but that's a whole other issue but also these companies are looking out for if you get to the point that you need Medicaid you would qualify, which, with the life expectancy you're talking about for your mom, might happen, so again, the reasoning behind the annuity; now don't quite understand the gap thing; have never heard of that, at least if you've already done something like buy an annuity; otherwise, yes, the spend-down period; actually I'm impressed anything will pay for assisted living; you must live in a medical AL state; the one my dad lived in AL's weren't considered medical at all, so nothing medical would pay for one at all. But I understand you thinking it's a scam; the situation I'm dealing with with hub's aunt and uncle I think their son and dil think the same thing; not sure if they think I'm trying to scam them or what; just that their situation is so different from my dad's but not so much a matter of their money, since it is gone already but their income is higher than my dad's was, not that it matters but that goes back to another post on here as to what it's already going for. But I hadn't heard about there being a specific fund for this benefit; I'd like to find out more about that; possibly so, but, like you said, not many people knew about it but possibly as how you found out and like April, it's getting more publicized now and especially these companies doing just what you're talking about, trying to sell people annuities to make them eligible, since they never imposed a look-back period like Medicaid because they didn't have to since not that many people knew about the benefit anyway, so not sure if they've robbed it or not but certainly as more people are doing that type thing and applying for it they're proposing such things to keep that very type thing from happening so it can be there for those who really do need it financially, not necessarily to get the "best" help but for those who can't get any at all without it, which, hopefully, was always only supposed to be a few; don't think they expected the "Greatest Generation" to expect it, though, true, not sure how much the top VA echelon makes or how they live, though know there have been reports of extravagances, I agree - but was never designed to be an entitlement program

I recently went to a seminar at a Senior Center. It was hosted by Veterans Financial. They are a private company which helps you determine when you are eligible for Aid and Attendance Benefits and also will help you through the application process. It was the most informative seminar that I attended. An assisted living facility hosted the seminar. They have a great website - veteransfinancial and their telephone number is. It cost nothing for their help. I recommend giving them a call for any questions. I left the seminar with a better understanding of the Aid and Attendance Benefit.

One thing that expedited my 94 year old father's VA Aid and Attendance claim was a letter to his local Congressman. Dad was quickly running out of money for his care, while waiting several months for his Aid and Attendance benefit to arrive. I was using the services of Senior Veterans Council and they advised me to write to Dad's local Congressman to let him know about my Dad's financial hardship. His Congressman, who is very concerned about Veterans' care, contacted the VA about my Dad's claim and this expedited the processing considerably. Thankfully, my father had enough money, once the claim came through, to remain in his home till he died 6 months later.

I have a PS to what I wrote yesterday. We had another meeting with someone from the VA system, and I have now washed my hands of this whole mess. It's cost me, my family, and my mother two years and a few hundred dollars donation for the biggest run-around I've ever experienced. The "powers that be" do not want you to get this assistance. They give you requirements, you fulfill them, then they require something else. And then something else. They told us she had to be in AL for two years. So she was. Then she needed more services, because it wasn't costing enough. So she hired more services...she'd been struggling along, doing with out, making do, trying to keep costs down. Sure enough, that got her down to their maximum requirement in the bank, but NOPE, not good enough. But now because it's taken two years of messing around trying to fill all the new demands they kept throwing in our path, now SHE'S TOO OLD!!!! She's 91, and her ON PAPER life expectancy is 94 1/2. No matter that she's got three siblings older than she is and Mom has nothing potentially fatal going on. So now they want to SELL her an annuity, taking away half her money to dole back a little at a time...so she'll eventually qualify for Medicaid. And there'll be a gap then from when she runs out of money till when Medicaid kicks in...three months where someone will have to pay her AL costs. Maybe this is a good deal and I'm too stupid to see it, but I am finished with this Veteran's garbage. As far as I can see, it's a scam and just another way to get old people's money. And the govt is the biggest scammers of all because this veteran's fund has allegedly been around since the 1950's and not many people knew about it to apply for it...there ought to be enough money in that fund by now to easily pay for all veteran's needs to get the best help money can buy. I bet it sure made a lot of folks feel good to vote into place some taxes to help the old veterans out...never realizing they'd make it so impossibly to qualify, only a few actual veteran's would ever see it. I wonder who's skimming off the top to pay for their luxury lifestyles, though. Sorry, I'm just livid over the massive rip-off...our brave heroes sacrificed so much and get THIS.

bls0901 - you need to have your mom's doctor document her dementia

This is very interesting. I am married to a Vietnam Vet and he retired from the Army. I tried to find out what will happen if he goes before me. I couldn't find anything that would be able to help me stay in my home. I am going to be 69 this year and my husband will be 67. I am 100% disabled. We both have worked hard all our lives but I raised 5 sons, 2 of whom served in the Iraq War, and I have no income other then a small Social Security check because I didn't work for many years as I took care of my family. I am so glad to have read this information. Thank you so much for posting it!

How do I become the fiduciary for my mother? She has dementia so bad she does not remember even having lunch 15 minutes after she finished.