Financial assistance For Elderly Veterans and Their Widows is a Well Kept secret
Ask an elderly Veteran if they are aware they may be eligible for a pension from the Veteran's supervision and they will tell you "I'm not eligible because I was not injured in the War." This is a base misconception which keeps many Veterans from tapping into a advantage they well earned by serving our country. The fact is elderly, disabled Veterans and their widows may very well qualify for large sums of money, but they have to apply for the funds. There are some Veteran pensions, but the pension designed to help elderly Veterans and Veteran's Widows pay for high-priced Home condition Care, Assisted Living installation or Nursing Home fees (if the Veteran is not covered by Medicaid) is called extra Monthly Pension with Aid and Attendance. The pension can pay a married Veteran up to ,949.00 per month, an unmarried Veteran up to ,644.00 per month and a Veteran's Widow can receive up to ,056.00 per month. The whole one receives is based upon their healing expenses and their current financial and healing status. The pension is paid by check directly to the Veteran or Veteran's Widow every month as long as they meet the criteria.
Financial assistance For Elderly Veterans and Their Widows is a Well Kept secret
The extra Monthly Pension with Aid and Attendance is the government's best kept secret. I cannot tell you how many seniors have told me that they called Veterans Affairs and were assuredly told that this pension does not exist or that they do not qualify. For thirteen years, I have assisted Veterans and Veteran's Widows in obtaining these funds - they assuredly do exist.
To get the maximum pension amount, a Veteran must qualify medically and financially and must have served their country for at least one day during "War Time". Also the Veteran must have been honorably discharged. Every case is thought about individually. If a Veteran or Veteran's Widow feels they may qualify, they can apply for the pension. The pension can take many months to assuredly be approved. The midpoint waiting duration is three to eight months. The first check will be retroactive to the month the application arrived at the Veterans' Affairs, therefore the first check may be for thousands of dollars. Subsequent checks will arrive monthly for the beloved amount. This pension money can mean the distinction between affording enough care for an aging Veteran/ Widow or having no care at all.
As with any governmental program, success is all in the paperwork. The pension application is many pages long and some of it is in essay form. It is the exact wording used in the essay areas that mean the distinction between approval and denial. Also, Veteran's Affairs does not tell Veterans about all the supporting documents that they would like to see. The good the healing and financial records, the good the chances are of approval. along with the right healing forms signed by a physician is very important for approval. Also typical of governmental red tape is the frustrating lack of communication. Once the application is filed and in the process of being reviewed, it is nearly impossible to get an modernize or check on the status of the application unless the Veteran/ Widow make the call themselves. For most of our clients, they are too ill or too confused to make a call like that.
In a exquisite world, financial aid for those who qualify should be assuredly accessible and easy to get. But the reality is that government agencies are inherently involved and their application processes are never self explanatory or simple. Ignorance of the rules is no excuse and no one will tell you the rules. The rules are written in a handbook, but the Veterans Affairs is not allowed to give them to you. Seasoned Eldercare professionals can often navigate these processes for you. They may payment for their services, but to exertion to do it yourself and have your application denied, will cost much more money. The division of Veterans' Affairs supposedly employs staff to help Veterans and their Widows apply for these pensions for free, but it is these very population who have told so many seniors that they do not qualify, when in fact they could qualify if they made one small change. Perhaps Veteran's Affairs is afraid that if they made it easy for every Veteran to apply, the pension fund would go broke. Given that War Time includes the Gulf War Era which began in 1990 and has not ended yet, I anticipate the pension fund will one day be whether broke or impossible to get. For now, the money is very much available and attainable.
Here are the extra Monthly Pension with Aid and Attendance eligibility criteria for the year 2008.
1) Veteran served in the troops for at least one day during War Time or had a spouse who served at that time. Spouses are population whom you never divorced.
2) Honorably Discharged from the Military.
3) Currently has healing or psychological condition which make the Veteran or Veteran widow dependent on the aid or aid of a non- house member in order to meet their daily care needs or they reside in an Assisted Living installation or Nursing Home ( not on Medicaid). This claim must be supported by physician signed forms, financial data and healing records.
4) Veteran Financial Criteria: Have assets in their own name below ,000 (if married) or below ,000 (if single). The car and house does not count as an asset. Each year wage below ,736,.00 (if single) or $ 23,396.00 (if married) after all healing expenses such as guarnatee premiums/copays, assisted living installation fees, paid caregiver salary, medications, healing transportation/ supplies, safe bet housing expenses, etc.
5) Veteran Widow Financial Criteria: Assets below ,000 and wage less than ,681 per year (after healing expenses listed above).
6) Note: wage figures are After healing Expenses. Va may wish person of developed age to have fewer assets than quoted above. We have seen this when applicants are near 100 years old.
In many cases, if a person has a paid care giver, such as a nurse's aide, or they pay an assisted living facility, or they pay out of pocket for a nursing home, those expenses impact so greatly on a person's net income, that they will meet the criteria for the wage level.
If a Veteran or Veteran Widow has cash assets above the limit, they are allowed to place those assets into safe bet investments in order to have them "sheltered". This sheltering does not have a penalty or "look back period" linked with it. Permissible asset sheltering for extra Monthly Pension with Aid and Attendance should be done under the supervision of an elder care expert or attorney well versed in Medicaid planning because one could assuredly ruin the chances of ever getting Medicaid if the V.A. Pension planning was done incorrectly.
With a tiny expert planning, many Veterans and Veteran Widows can receive pensions that make a requisite distinction in the whole of care they receive. After all, the suspect for this singular pension is to assure that a Veteran or Veteran Widow does not live in a substandard environment in their old age. It takes a tiny work to apply for this pension, but anyone worth having usually does.
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