Why Dad Doesn’t Think He’d Qualify for Aid and Attendance Benefits

Your dad has been having trouble at home. Maybe he’s in his 70s or 80s and you’ve been helping him as best you can. You know it’s a difficult road for him and you know he would benefit from a home care aide.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t think he can afford it. His pension is limited and he barely has enough to cover his basic living expenses. He has a little bit in savings, but that’s for emergency situations, such as the furnace breaking or a medical issue. He’s not tapping into that for home care support.

You’ve talked to him about the Aid and Attendance Benefit, but he doesn’t think he’d qualify. There could be a number of reasons why he wouldn’t qualify, so let’s talk about them here.

He didn’t serve during a time of war.

The Aid and Attendance Benefit is reserved for wartime veterans. This doesn’t mean your father had to have fought in a combat situation, but at least one day of his service needs to have fallen during a time of official combat.

His length of service wasn’t enough.

If he didn’t serve at least 90 days active duty in one of the major branches of the United States military, he didn’t served enough. If a veteran served any time during the Gulf War, their minimum time service is typically two years, the length of an average term for that time.

He wasn’t injured in service.

This is a common misconception. Veterans do not need to have been injured or disabled during their active time of service in order to qualify for the Aid and Attendance Benefit. If this is what he is basing his assumptions on, you can tell him that it’s wrong.

He needs to be able to show that home care support is necessary at this point in his life, but as far as injuries during service, that is a falsehood and misconception.

He assumes his assets are too great.

Some veterans are confused about asset and income levels when it comes to qualifying for the Aid and Attendance Benefit. Their assets need to be $80,000 or lower, and they need to meet a required income to medical expense ratio. If your father owns his house and the house is valued at greater than that, he may assume he doesn’t qualify, but the primary residence of a veteran may not be included in the income and asset calculations.

The best thing he can do, if he is not one hundred percent sure whether or not he would qualify, is to submit the application. If he needs home care support, this could be exactly what he needs to stay safe and healthy at home.

If you or a loved one have the VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit and are considering hiring home care, please contact the friendly staff at Veterans Care Coordination™. Call today: 1-855-380-4400