We know that over 44 million people provide unpaid care to family members and friends to help them deal with a chronic or debilitating illness. This care is worth about $375 billion, and many caregivers are sacrificing wages and financial security to help their loved ones.…
Category: Veterans Benefits
Updated Medicaid and VA Numbers for 2019
Happy New Year! The beginning of the new year usually brings with it changes to Social Security payments as well as the eligibility requirements for Medicaid and benefit amounts for VA Aid and Attendance. This year, the Social Security Administration announced a 2.8% cost-of-living-adjustment…
Applying for VA Benefits
Our office receives regular calls from families asking about the VA benefits, or Aid and Attendance Benefits. Often times, family members are told about these benefits from another elder care professional. Some even offer to help the families apply for VA benefits. So, how exactly…
The Extra VA Benefits
We are constantly amazed by the number of veterans who do not know about the extra benefits from the Veterans Administration that are available to them. Phone calls from concerned family members often reveal that their father or brother never used the VA after…
How Medicaid and VA Benefits Work Together
Both the VA benefits and Medicaid can be used to pay for long-term care costs, but how they work together is often very confusing. The Basics of VA Benefits The VA benefit can be used to pay for home care, assisted living care, and…
VA Pension with Aid and Attendance 101: Official Dates of War
As you know, the Pension with Aid and Attendance benefit can offer substantial income to help veterans and their surviving spouses pay for long-term care. This benefit, however, is only for wartime veterans. More specifically, a veteran must have served for at least 90…
Scams that Target Veterans
I never stop being disgusted and enraged by scams targeting seniors. Recently, we heard from a family whose 78-year-old father was being victimized by a scammer. This man was a veteran and had worked hard for his savings over the last six decades. The…
VA Benefits 101: Understanding “Income for VA Purposes”
Our last blog explored the basics of the Income Pension with Aid and Attendance benefit. We mentioned the income requirements for VA benefits and briefly explained that the VA does not have a defined income limit in order to be eligible for VA benefits. This…
VA Benefits 101: Pension with Aid and Attendance
Recently we announced that the VA is making significant changes to the VA Pension with Aid and Attendance benefit. Some are still wondering what exactly is the VA Pension with Aid and Attendance benefit. This special pension is available to wartime veterans and their surviving…
Announcement: The VA is Making Big Changes to the Aid and Attendance Benefit
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced big changes to the VA Aid and Attendance Benefit. In its final rule published on September 18, 2018, the VA added a look back period for asset transfers, established net worth limits, and added new medical expense…