Aid and AttendanceAid-and-Attendance

Your father served during the late 1960s. He was in Vietnam and had seen quite a bit of combat. Some of the stories he told through the years riveted you and your brothers and sisters to him during those tales. He passed away more than two years ago, and in that time since you noticed your mother beginning to have difficulty with her own basic care. She’s 77, has had a number of health issues as of late, and it seems like she’s calling your sister more frequently for help getting out of bed, getting dressed, and with some other basic tasks.

You want her to get a home care aide because of two important factors: first, your sister just doesn’t have the time or energy to be her full-time caregiver at this point in her life. Second, you want your mother to be safe at home, and since your sister can be there with her all the time, you worry all the same.

The problem here is that it seems home care is just going to be too much for your mother to be able to afford. She can qualify for some Medicaid assistance, but that’s not enough.

Since your father served during a time of active combat and he served more than the minimum of 90 days active duty service, he would’ve likely qualified for the Aid and Attendance Benefit if he required home care. Believe it or not, your mother might qualify for that particular pension as well, but at a lower reimbursement rate.

Widows of veterans who would otherwise have qualified for the Aid and Attendance Benefit may be eligible for financial assistance to help pay for some level of home care.

It’s important that your mother is able to show that she absolutely needs home care at this point in her life. There are many ways to go about proving this, but if she can contact her doctor and he or she recommends it, that would go a long way toward proving that home care is needed at this point in her life.

She also needs to be able to show her income and assets fall within specific threshold levels as set by the VA in order to qualify. If you believe she’ll qualify, get that application filled out as soon as possible. It could take many months for approval to go through.

If you or a loved one are considering Aid and Attendance, please contact the friendly staff at Veterans Care Coordination. Call today: 1-855-777-4693

About Kyle Laramie, Founder & CEO

Kyle founded Veterans Care Coordination in April 2011. As owner and CEO of VCC, Kyle is driven by the memory of his grandfather, a World War II Veteran who unnecessarily missed out on essential VA benefits because Kyle’s family wasn’t aware of available opportunities. Kyle was named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s prestigious “40 Under 40” list and St. Louis Small Business Monthly’s “100 St. Louisans to Know” in 2014. Under his leadership, VCC has become one of the fastest growing senior service companies in the United States. VCC was named a St. Louis Small Business Monthly “Top 20” small business and has been named a finalist for the St. Louis Post Dispatch Top Workplace (2015-2019), St. Louis Business Journal Best Place to Work (2019), and the Arcus Awards (2014). To date, the team has served more than 10,000 clients in 45 states. Kyle is a frequent speaker on the topic of Veterans’ benefits, addressing conferences such as the Home Care Association of America and Decision Health. He is passionate about giving back and has built a charitable-minded organization that supports a wide variety of philanthropic efforts through monthly campaigns.