A SECRET OUR GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT???
If you are a VET or Know a VET you MUST READ THIS.
The Department of Veteran Affairs offers a little known benefit to war era Veterans, who are at least 65 years old, along with their surviving Spouses. It is called AID AND ATTENDANCE. It is available to anyone who served in the military while the US was involved in a WAR… anywhere in the world. You merely have to have been in the service. You need not have participated in the war.
Aid and Attendance is a tax-free benefit designed to provide financial assistance to help cover the cost of long term care in the home, in an assisted living facility or in a nursing home. If you are a Surviving Spouse you can get $1,094/month…TAX FREE. If you are a VET the amount is $1,703/mo and if you are a Married VET you can get $2,019/month…and you do not have to pay it back.
This Benefit is for those veterans and surviving spouses who require the regular attendance of another person or caregiver in at least two of the daily activities of living. These are transportation, dressing, undressing, bathing, cooking, eating, grooming, personal hygiene needs, homemaking and maintenance.
There are over 100,000 VETS and or their spouses receiving this benefit today, but there should be many times that amount. The problem is that AID and ATTENDANCE is not promoted by the USA. Is that because the financial condition of our country is shaky and we do not want to pay out more money?
It is based on age, assets, marital status, income, liquid assets and cost of care.
You usually can have $25,000-40,000 in liquid assets.
If your home has value put it in IRREVOCABLE TRUST with a trustee… to shelter it. Only the trustee can draw on it. Thus you get an EIN (employer identification number) which takes the place of Soc Security.
If there is more than $80,000 in assets they will not even consider it…. …thus the need for the trust.
VA Non-Service Connected Disability Pension Benefits.
The VA Aid & Attendance & Housebound Pension is designed to provide qualified veterans and their un-remarried surviving spouses with financial benefits outside of the traditional VA residential system. This pension benefit, which was established in 1952 under title 38USC, provides a direct, tax free monthly pension to help defray the cost of long-term care.
http://www.usseniorvets.com/images/Eagle_w_flag-small.jpg 2012 Maximum Benefit Amounts
Monthly Annually
Two Veterans / Spouses $2,631 Two Veterans / Spouses $31,572
Married Veteran* $2,019 Married Veteran $24,228
Single Veteran $1,703 Single Veteran $20,436
Surviving Spouse $1,094 Surviving Spouse $13,140
* Assuming the veteran needs care. If only the spouse needs care, a married veteran could qualify for up to $1,337 monthly.
Eligibility Requirements:
Must be 65 years old and/or unemployable.
Must have an Honorable or General discharge (any other than Dishonorable discharge).
Must have served at least 90 days of active Federal duty with at least one day during an official period of conflict.
Must have a medical necessity requiring care
Must meet income and countable asset criteria established by the VA*
What does this mean to you, the average Veteran or Veteran’s surviving spouse?
Access of your benefit through this system provides you with access to care. With a pension in hand, you are able to afford the care you need. Secondly, you have a choice. You have the power to select the services you need as well as the provider that meets those needs. Thirdly, the pension is dependable. Like Social Security, the pension will always be there for qualified beneficiaries and is paid directly to you by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
When an application is submitted, the claim will become effective the first day of the following month. Once the paperwork is sent to the Veteran Service Officer, it can take 2-10 days to input the application. As soon as the VSO receives the paperwork they email you and you return it to them signed they electronically send it to the VA that same day. No one has control over how quickly the VA responds.
Once the application is submitted electronically to the VA, everyone is “blacked out” of all communication. All information between Veterans, Surviving Spouses, etc. is private; therefore all communication will be between the contact on record, the family member and the VA. Once the application is submitted, it can take 6-9 months to hear news of adjudication. If you have any inquiries please phone (877) 294-6380.
Most lawyers do not know about Aid and Attendance. Is this because a lawyer can not charge a VET for assisting them with this benefit? When you think about it lawyers are the ones protecting society at every turn. They are the one’s keeping corporations under control and forcing auto manufacturers to make cars safer and not explode on impact……..and remember this is a lawyer educating you on this wonderful benefit.
I honestly do not think it is because lawyers cannot charge for assisting with this benefit but rather that they, like the majority of the population, do not know this benefit exists. I would not have known about Aid and Attendance but for my having sat in on the taping of the “Patti Gribow TV Show”. In this show my wife was interviewing a financial planner from the EAST COAST. He talked about this seldom talked about benefit. I was intrigued and sat in on a dozen more financial planners being interviewed on her show. They all spoke about this little known benefit that is a secret here in the Coachella Valley. Quite honestly I have never met anyone in the greater Palm Springs area that has heard of Aid and Attendance let alone assisted someone with it other than one insurance gentleman.
Please let me know if you have heard of anyone needing this info or want the number of the local insurance fellow that helps Vets recover this benefit.
I hope this information is helpful. I know it’s confusing and overwhelming but it is a government program……… Dale Gribow
