There are now over 25 million US veterans eligible for of VA benefits. Most believe they are only entitled to benefits if they were actually wounded or disabled while they were serving in the armed forces. Few vets realize that VA special pensions exist, including the Aid and Attendance Pension (and their local VA office won’t tell them about it!). Many vets are battling chronic conditions and struggling to pay for their care. VA special pensions are just one tool that an elder care attorney can look to when helping people plan for their long term care needs. While you struggle to provide dignified long term care for a wartime veteran or surviving spouse, we can help you understand what the options are and how to access under utilized benefits available to veterans.
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The use of the Aid & Attendance benefit can best be shown through examples of how it has been used in actual situations. Joe Saxon is a 76 year old who had been living with his son and his son’s family. Joe suffers from Parkinson’s disease and its related dementia. The house where Joe was living was not easy for him to get around in and he sometimes butted heads with his granddaughter. Joe has very limited resources—assets of about $25,000 and monthly income from social security and a pension of around $1,200. After evaluating Joe, it was very apparent that besides suffering from Parkinson’s he was also dealing with late life depression. Being someone who has lived through World War II and the Depression, he of course considers counseling or prescription drugs for mental issues to be “only for sissies.” As you can see, this situation presents a true dilemma: How to get help for Joe when he really cannot afford help. We determined that Joe served in Korea and met other requirements for a VA special pension—in this case Aid & Attendance. When the monthly benefit of $1,520 was added to his current income of $1,200, assisted living became a possibility. As soon as Joe was taken around to look at assisted living facilities, his outlook on life began to improve. Joe found a room that he liked in a facility and moved in. His total income from all sources provides enough to pay his rent and have about $200 left over to pay for other expenses. Joe’s life is much happier now, he is well socialized with other residents and he has the freedom to move around the town square as well. None of this would have been available to him without the VA pension.
