Veterans Benefits
Many veterans, and their surviving spouses, are eligible for valuable VA benefits they never knew existed. We discuss your situation, explain what you may qualify for, and help you pursue the benefits your service has earned.
Benefits Most Veterans Never Claim
The Department of Veterans Affairs administers a range of benefits that can help cover the cost of home care, assisted living, and nursing home care for veterans and their spouses. The Aid and Attendance benefit is one of the most valuable and least known of these programs. Eligible veterans can receive a tax-free monthly benefit that significantly offsets long-term care costs, yet most people who qualify have never heard of it.
Surviving spouses of veterans may also qualify. You do not need to have served in combat, and you do not need to have a service-connected disability to be eligible for many of these programs.
Aid and Attendance
Aid and Attendance is a VA pension benefit available to wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who need help with activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, transferring, or who have cognitive impairments that require supervision. The benefit can pay for home care aides, adult day programs, assisted living, or nursing home costs.
To qualify, you must meet service requirements (generally 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a wartime period), income requirements, and an asset test. The VA uses a net worth limit that combines assets and income. Since 2018, the VA also applies a three-year look-back period for asset transfers, similar to MassHealth's look-back rules.
The Aid and Attendance benefit is not automatic. It requires an application and supporting documentation about the veteran's service, health, and financial situation. We help you build the application correctly the first time.
Coordinating VA Benefits with MassHealth
Many families pursue both VA benefits and MassHealth at the same time. The rules interact with each other in ways that are not obvious, and planning for one program can sometimes conflict with qualifying for the other. We look at both together and develop a strategy that gets the most out of both programs for your family.
Other VA Programs We Help With
VA Pension (Improved Pension). A needs-based benefit for low-income wartime veterans who are permanently and totally disabled, even if the disability is not service-connected.
Housebound benefit. A pension enhancement for veterans who are substantially confined to their immediate premises due to a permanent disability.
Surviving Spouse Benefits (DIC and Survivors Pension). Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) is available to surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes. Survivors Pension is needs-based and available to low-income surviving spouses of wartime veterans.