VETERAN'S LONG-TERM CARE

More and more senior veterans are discovering a little-known veterans benefit that helps pay for long-term care.  Called the "aid-and-attendance" pension benefit, it pays up to $1,470 a month to a qualifying veteran, $945 a month to a surviving spouse, or $1,743 a month to a couple to defray the expense of long-term care.

WHO CAN APPLY?

To qualify, veterans must:

Have served in wartime, though they didn't have to see combat; 

Have no more than $80,000 in assets, not counting the family home, car and personal possessions;

Prove financial need usually by demonstrating expenses exceed their income, and;

Show they need someone to help them with basic activities of living, such as bathing, grooming or eating.

Under the program, veterans don't have to exhaust their assets as they must do before getting help from Medicaid with nursing home costs.  A veteran may have up to $80,000, a home, a car and personal possessions as these aren't counted.

Veterans can also transfer assets, typically to their children, to reduce their net worth and qualify for the pension benefit.  Anyone applying for Medicaid faces strict limits on asset transfers.

Finally, applicants usually can prove a financial need by showing their expenses exceed their income.  That's a modest standard for people facing tens of thousands of dollars in long-term care costs each year.

Applications generally take four to six months for the Department of Veterans Affairs to process, assuming a senior has submitted all the required forms and answered all the questions.

When people hear about veteran’s benefits, they usually think of veterans hospitals treating service-related injuries.  Many don't realize the benefits extend far beyond that.

A particularly useful web site in learning about this benefit is http://www.veteranaid.org.  The site includes the forms and step by step instructions for application.

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