Question:

I am currently on a VA pension and I have been told I should apply for Aid and Attendance. What is Aid and Attendance?

Answer:

Veterans who qualify for a non-service-connected pension may also qualify for additional benefits such as Aid and Attendance and Housebound benefits. Aid and Attendance is a benefit that is paid in addition to a monthly non-service-connected pension. This means that the veteran must first be eligible for a pension.

To be eligible for A&A a veteran must fall into at least one of the following categories:

  • The veteran requires the aid of another person in order to perform personal functions required in everyday living, such as bathing, feeding, dressing, attending to the wants of nature, adjusting prosthetic devices, or protecting themselves from the hazards of daily living.
  • The veteran is bedridden, in that their disability or disabilities requires that they remain in bed apart from any prescribed course of convalescence or treatment.
  • The veteran is a patient in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity.
  • The veteran is blind, or so nearly blind as to have corrected visual acuity of 5/200 or less, in both eyes, or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less.

Depending on what kind of assistance you need you may also want to consider Housebound benefits. To be eligible for Housebound benefits, assuming the veteran is eligible for a VA pension, the veteran must fall into at least one of the following categories:

  • The veteran has a single permanent disability evaluated as 100 percent disabling and, due to such disability, they are permanently and substantially confined to their immediate premises.
  • The veteran has a single permanent disability evaluated as 100 percent disabling and, another disability, or disabilities, evaluated as 60 percent or more disabling.

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