Did you know that nursing home care is not the only program that the VA offers to its Veterans? Other services that the VA will help pay for include geriatric evaluations, respite care, adult day care, home-based care and hospice care. If the Veteran has a 50% or more service connected disability rating, the care is free. It may also be free if the Veteran needs care for the treatment of a service connected disability or to Veterans who have service-connected disabilities that are between 30% to 40%. In some instances, the care may also be free for those who have a lesser service-connected disability ratings or there may be a co-pay associated with the care.
You can look at the VHA Handbook to learn more about the different types of services and the co-pays associated with the services.  Go to http://www.va.gov/vhapublications. The handbooks starting with number 1140 discuss the various programs.
Whether or not a Veteran pays a co-pay for long term care services depends on the priority group he or she belongs to (which range from 1 through 8 with 1 being the highest priority for enrollment). For instance, Priority Group 1 is for those Veterans with a service-connected disability of 50% or more while Priority Group 4 is for Veterans receiving Aid and Attendance or housebound benefits or who have been determined by the VA to be catastrophically disabled.
For more information about Veteran’s Affairs and benefits, please contact the Elder Law Offices of Law Ohall today.