Interesting article. Nobody should be taking advantage of our veterans like this.

Aid & Attendance benefit can provide funds to afford assisted living care. The A&A Pension can provide up to $1,788 per month to a veteran, $1,149 per month to a surviving spouse, or $2,120 per month to a couple. A Veteran filing with a Sick Spouse is eligible for up to $1,406 per month.

Some of what has been presented in this article is true. Receiving poor advice regarding purchasing an annuity to qualify for benefits does happen. Unfortunately, the promotion of applying for VA benefits is a common marketing tool that is used by more than those mentioned here. If you look at the long term care industry in general, you will see home care providers and care communities offering assistance with applying for VA or determining if they qualify in order to pay for their services. This can result in some of the same issues presented in the article. Putting restrictions on marketing "VA benefit assistance" would probably help with this area.

For the most part the issue is when someone looks at only one piece of the puzzle. When planning for care whether it be short term while still in the home or long term as needs and level of care changes, you have to create a plan that includes a complete financial, legal and care plan. A cohesive plan will address the person's concerns and goals, include every detail of their income and assets and the cost of care that is projected. The plan will include any public benefits that a person may be eligible for currently or in the future and ensure that one does not negatively effect the other.

A well thought out plan is quite complicated and will take more than a seminar to complete. A team approach of financial advisors, accountants and Elder Law Attorneys, the client and their family(if appropriate) should all be a part of the planning team. Each person has their specialty and an established professional will not try to give advice on something they do no specialize in.

Great article about another type of senior financial exploitation. My father had set up a Trust that held the bulk of my parents' assets for many years. After his death, my sister talked our mom into dissolving the trust and putting the funds elsewhere. So the two of them visited my mom's credit union and there she was suckered into buying two annuities at the age of 81 - a 7 yr and a 10 yr annuity. She is now 86 and still has 2 years left to maturity on one annuity, 5 years on the other. If she passes away prior to the maturity dates, she will have lost a sizeable chunk of her investment, although it will only affect her beneficiaries. It hadn't yet occurred to me, until I read this article, that the annuities may have been drafted in my sister's name as a way to help my mom qualify for medicare benefits. I had concerns that my sister had been listed as the sole beneficiary on the annuities, but they could actually have been drafted in her name. My mother just was so impressed by this "very nice financial advisor" at her credit union. She and my sister did this without any of the rest of the siblings knowledge. We found out a month later, when it was too late to change anything, and one brother is well aware of the pitfalls of annuities, since he used to sell them. Our sister is like a vulture and has been scheming for years to gain advantage in benefiting from our parents' estate. My sister is the only one of us that has access to our mom's financial documents, and our mom is totally clueless about financial matters. Any suggestions on what I can do at this point to find out what has been done? I doubt the credit union advisor would talk to me. I don't want to appear to be prying into things, but at the same time I feel my sister has had way too much opportunity to exploit our mom.

Will come back and study article myself. Thanks so much for posting. Need to follow.

How sad these vultures are taking advantage of those most vulnerable. Thank you for sharing such important information.