If You Have Served Our Country

you may be entitled to a wide range of valuable benefits. The benefits available to you depend on factors such as your income, service record, and health status. Benefits can include medical care, nursing services and nursing care, in-home and residential care, adult day care, telehealth care, medical foster homes, respite care, hospice care, and more.

At Biddinger, Schrot & Rolando, PC, we are honored to serve those who have served our country. We can advise you on the types of programs for which you are eligible, explain how the programs work, and assist with the completion of applications and other necessary paperwork. In addition, we can help eligible veterans obtain one of the most valuable but least understood benefits of all, Aid and Attendance.

The Aid and Attendance Pension Program for 2024:

The Aid and Attendance Pension is available to eligible veterans and their surviving spouses who need assistance with the activities of daily living. It can provide an eligible married veteran with $32,729 per year, a single veteran with $27,609 per year, and a surviving spouse with $17,743 per year. The Aid and Attendance Pension is paid directly to the veteran and does not have to be paid back. The chart below lists these totals for simplicity. These amounts were updated at the beginning of January 2024.

The benefit can be used to pay anyone, including the veteran’s child, for home care. It can also be used to pay for professional care in the home, assisted living, nursing home care, insurance premiums, prescription drugs, co-pays, and more. In essence, Aid and Attendance can help an eligible veteran or widowed spouse reside at home for as long as possible, receive necessary care, and protect hard-earned assets.

Eligibility Requirements:

The veteran must be 65 or older and/or unemployable. He or she must have received a discharge other than dishonorable and served 90 days or more of active duty. At least of one those days must have been served during a time of war.

In addition, the veteran or widowed spouse must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Require assistance from another person to perform functions of everyday living like bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, adjusting prosthetic devices or protecting against the hazards of one’s daily environment
• Be bedridden (having a disability that requires remaining in bed apart from any prescribed course of convalescence or treatment)
• Reside in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity
• Have eyesight limited to a corrected 5/200 visual acuity or less in both eyes, or concentric contraction of the visual field that is limited to 5 degrees or less

The veteran or widowed spouse must also meet the VA’s financial guidelines. This is the area where planning is needed most. Many veterans whose net worth exceeds VA limits can become eligible for Aid and Attendance with proper planning. It is important to note that Aid and Attendance planning must address the veteran’s potential need for Medicaid in the future.

You and your family have made extraordinary sacrifices in service to our country. We welcome the opportunity to be of service to you in return. We would be honored to meet with you in person to discuss your particular situation. Contact us at your earliest convenience for a consultation.