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My mom, 94, has to go to a residential home since she is no longer able to live alone, plus she has developed some health issues that need full time care. She has social security and makes a bit from an IRA that sends her money every 3 months. The IRA is in a living trust that goes to me upon her death. That is her only income. She does not own her house, she helped to purchase it but it is on our property and in our name, although we have all our names on the tax bill. She had money set aside to will to her grandson and we have that in a credit union that is in our name. I understand there may be some benefits that she might qualify for to help her with the costs of the nursing home. Not sure if they need to exhaust all of her assets first, which is something I would rather they not do. She has Medicare and triCare for life for insurance. Please help guide me through what might be available for her.

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https://www.agingcare.com/articles/veteran-aid-and-attendance-improved-pension-136402.htm

Here is a link to an Aging Care article on the topic of VA Aid & Attendance benefits for wartime vets and or spouses. You'd need to check with your local VA office to see if your husband qualified, and if you qualify now, financially.

Good luck.
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DesertRose7 Jul 2023
Lealonnie1, thank you for your response and the link. I appreciate this resource and will check it out.
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Did your father serve in WW11? If so, your mom should qualify. They will most likely speed up the process due to your mother’s age.

Best wishes to you and your mom.
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Agatasul Jul 2023
Hi. I’m interested in this topic too because my 100.5 years old granny is about $100,000 away from $0 assets and her care and apartment run about $17,000 per month - so we’re less than a 1 year from having to cover her expenses which are not trivial. She needs help transferring since she had a hip replacement last December, so has to have 24 hr support.

I just learned that her late second husband served in Korea. He died in 1985 at age 63 after paralysis from a stroke but appears never filed for VA benefits for himself. I just filed a notice of intent to claim benefits for granny with the VA. I checked pension and the SURVIVORS PENSION AND/OR DEPENDENCY AND INDEMNITY COMPENSATION.

When I called the VA to start the process, I was told that they didn’t have the husband’s service number nor details regarding his service so I filed a request at the national archives to find his records. Meanwhile a retired military friend found the years of service in the Air Force.

My questions are:

1. How long does the process take?
a. To get military service records
b. To get benefits
2. Does granny get a pension and what other benefits?
3. What is covered by other benefits and are there limits? I understand in-home care is covered, correct?
4. Would a survivors pension be retroactive to the date of retirement eligibility?
5. How do I expedite? She’s 100 years old and will need major support in less than 1 year (sooner to prevent bad decisions by panicked family worried about the expenses they need to take on as we get to $0 savings in Granny’s account)

Granny is currently in an independent living facility with “live in” care takers who sleep in her apartment. I set MediCal early this year and applied last month for in home supportive services via medical once she spent down to $130,000 which the social worker told me was the threshold for receiving help to pay for the care takers. We also got an order from her doctor to receive free incontinence supplies paid by Medicare.

What else should I be doing?

Agata
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She won't qualify if she goes on Medicaid. You cannot have both A&A and Medicaid too. Medicaid is higher and both are government programs. The most she would get was $90 for her Personal Needs acct.

In my State when a persons name is on a tax bill its on the deed too.
Using her money to help buy a house, putting the IRA in a trust and putting money aside for grandson all needed to be done over 5 years before her applying for Medicaid. Otherwise its hiding assets from Medicaid. But I would think all of this was done way before since Mom is 94.

You need to call up your County VA dept to see what Mom is entitled to. You will need Dads discharge papers.
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DesertRose7 Jul 2023
JoAnn29, thank you for this good advice. I will contact the VA and research what might be available.
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Contact Patriot Angels for help. They will charge $1100 or so to help you apply. It won’t cost anything to talk to them and they will know if she qualifies. (615) 348-5091. Shane Massey is who we talked to first. My mother in law was qualified and started receiving aid and attendance within 2 months after applying. Since she was over 90 years old the process was accelerated by the VA.
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southiebella Jul 2023
I've also used Patriot Angels for my mother who is qualified. My father fought in both WWII and Korea.

I started submitting application to the VA on my own back in 2021 and was finally turned down because I couldn't get all of their paperwork requirements sent into them within the time frame that they demanded. It was nuts. The VA insisted I have doctor exam twice along with piles of documents to fill out with instructions written by a lunatic.

I turned to Patriot Angels in February this year. Patriot Angels submitted my mother's claim on April 1, 2023 and as of last week, we are still waiting on the VA to make a decision. My mother is 96 years old now, but nothing has been accelerated to my knowledge.
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Does anyone know if non- combat veterans can get any benefits. My friend’s husband is a non-combat veteran and has middle stage Alzheimer’s. My friend has breast cancer and is on serious chemo. They do not have much money so I wondered if he could perhaps her and aide through the Veteran’s.
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JoAnn29 Jul 2023
If served during a War, he didn't have to be in combat, they maybe entitled to Aid and Attendance. If he will be going into a NH, though, he can't have A&A and Medicaid too. She can receive it though.
She needs to call her County VA office to see what they maybe entitled to. A rep may come to their home.
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Contact your local VA Office. My mom got some benefits. I can’t think what it was called, right now.
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I think it was called Aid and Attendance???
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She's a surviving spouse so is entitled to Aid & Attendance. She should have been receiving it all along, so possibly you could get retroactive? You have to apply. My mom received it at the time of Dad's passing in 1975, and now she is 100 years of age. It's not enough to pay for a full time aide at home, but you could get someone part-time at home with it. Tricare may have additional benefits beyond Medicare. I'm a little fuzzy on this but should also brush up on the details.
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KPWCSC Jul 2023
You can only get it retroactive to the date of application… so the sooner you get the application on record the better.
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Consult with Elder Law Attorney and Veteran Benefits Specialist and perhaps a qualified case manager to avail yourself of the many varied levels of understanding toward making the best decisions and, to be sure that all appropriate documents are in place.
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Make an appointment with your county VA representative. You can look or fill out the form 21-2680
You will need Social Security Letter
Bank Statements for last 3 months
proof of income for year
Marriage certificate - certified copy
DD214 if you have it.
Military person's SSN
May need the deed to house or mortgage statements.
the total of assets I think are $135,000. but I am not for sure on this.
This is just a general list. It may be more or less.
With these things the VA rep will fill out the 2680 for you and submit.
The top amount on the award .. I think is $1100?? cannot remember. I am in the middle of doing this for my mom as well.
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babsjvd Jul 2023
Absolutely, well informing
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DesertRose7: Check out the VA benefit called Aid and Attendance.
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Contact your local VA; they can direct you to resources. Most VA Centers have very thorough representatives. If she is in a hospital, the social worker or case manager can help you with this.
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Not to be an A-****, but shouldn't her money be used for her care? Could you maybe repay back her portion she helped put into the house, and the money she has set aside for her grandchild.

On top of all the other advice offered. Just seems like if she needs help funding care why not use her money she has gifted or set aside for others to help provide care for her.
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We were advised not to contact VA but the local Veterans Service Commission, which has trained vets to do the paperwork. In our state, the employees you work with are called Veterans Service Officers (VSO), and they do all kinds of work for veterans/spouses that need to apply for various VA services. We were told that the process would be faster and the likelihood of Mom being turned down was much less. A lot of other organizations will also assist you, but you need to find out if they're going to charge you, at some point.

My mom's benefits were retroactive to about the month that my dad died; but I don't remember if there was a certain period of time in which the application had to be initiated after his death. The paperwork would have been impossible for us to do correctly on our own, and the Commission doesn't charge clients anything for their work. It was a slow process, but it worked.

If your mom qualifies for Aid and Assistance, her monthly benefit will be higher. A doctor has to do an exam and fill out paperwork for that application; my mom's doctor (a geriatrician) had a home visit done for that, since Mom was housebound and couldn't get to his office.

Mom had no financial assets other than bank accounts - no car, no house. We thought her middle-class pension income would disqualify her, but it didn't, because she has a Personal Caregiving contract with us, and her monthly payment to us was deducted from her monthly income. That brought it down enough that she qualified. I think that any other private caregiving that she paid for would have also been deducted from her income, as would certain medical expenses.

There is no reporting required as to how she spends her monthly benefit; it can go for whatever she needs. VA does have to be notified if her income should increase, and a form has to be filed by the VSO every 2 years; and the income is reported in her yearly income tax filing, I think, but no taxes actually paid on it, at least in her case.

I used to know a lot more details, but now they've faded. We're focused on living one day at a time now.
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