Good for the elderly
Eligible Primary and Secondary Family Caregivers can receive: Caregiver education and training. Mental health counseling. Travel, lodging, and financial assistance when traveling with the Veteran to receive care.
The VA is required to provide nursing home care to any veteran who: needs nursing home care because of a service-connected disability. has a combined disability rating of 70% or more, or. has a disability rating of at least 60% and is: deemed unemployable, or. has been rated permanently and totally disabled.
For example: If an eligible Veteran requires 10 hours of personal care services weekly (Tier 1) and the Caregiver’s hourly wage (including COLA) is $10 per hour, then the monthly stipend would be: (10 hours x $10) x 4.35 = $435 .
The Veterans Administration’s Aid & Attendance Program offers assistance to eligible veterans and their spouses, or surviving spouses. Wartime veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for up to $1,644 monthly or $1,056 monthly respectively to pay for long-term care expenses.
The IRS automatically sent VA beneficiaries, who don’t typically file a federal income tax return, a $1,200 stimulus check in May.
Typically, caregiver spouses are paid between $10.75 – $20.75 / hour. In general terms, to be eligible as a care recipient for these programs, applicants are limited to approximately $27,756 per year in income, and most programs limit the value of their countable assets to less than $2,000.
If your health care eligibility is based on financial need, your family net worth (over $80,000) can prevent you from qualifying for VA health care.
Age 65 or older (or permanently disabled) Minimum service requirements (at least 90 days of active duty, with one of those days being during active wartime) A monthly income and assets below the limits set by the VA (net worth must not exceed $129,094, as of December 1, 2019)
Care in veterans nursing homes is not free . It is merely subsidized by the VA . The veteran must pay his or her share of the cost. So, most veterans still need Medicaid to pay for their care , even if they are in a VA nursing home !
To contact your local CSC, you can call the Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274 or go to https://www. caregiver . va .gov and use the Find Your Caregiver Support Coordinator feature. Individuals may also apply online at https://www. va .gov/family-member-benefits/comprehensive-assistance-for-family- caregivers .
For a veteran to be eligible for the caregiver program, they must meet several initial criteria: The veteran must have sustained a serious injury including traumatic brain injury (TBI), psychological trauma, or other mental disorder incurred or aggravated in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001.
The VA is supposed to approve or deny an application within 45 days. Of the 1,822 applications approved during that time, 1,189, or 65 percent, were delayed, the inspector general found. Of the delayed cases, 654, or 55 percent, weren’t finished until three to six months after a caregiver applied.
If you’re the surviving spouse , child, or parent of a service member who died in the line of duty, or the survivor of a Veteran who died from a service-related injury or illness, you may be able to get a tax-free monetary benefit called VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation ( VA DIC).
Social Security benefits do count as income with respect to eligibility for VA health benefits . Survivor benefits and lump sum death benefits from Social Security also count .
Even after veterans reach full retirement age, VA’s disability payments continue at the same level. By contrast, the income that people receive after they retire (from Social Security or private pensions) usually is less than their earnings from wages and salary before retirement.