Proposed Rule Will Make it More Difficult to Receive Long-Term Care Aid from VA

Impending regulations will soon make a currently underused benefit from the Veteran’s Administration (VA) for nursing care available to even fewer veterans.

The pension benefit, called Aid and Attendance, provides additional financial assistance to veterans who meet one of the following conditions: requires the aid of another person in order perform personal functions required for everyday living, such as bathing, feeding, dressing, toileting, adjusting prosthetic devices, or protecting oneself from daily environmental hazards; is bedridden; is a patient in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity; or has severely limited eyesight.

A veteran must also meet certain financial criteria in order to qualify for the pension. The VA does not currently specify an exact asset limit, but the typical amount is ~$80,000. Importantly, the current rules do not impose any penalties on an applicant for divesting assets prior to applying for the benefit. The new regulations, however, will set specific asset limits for qualification ($119,220) and will impose a 3-year look-back period and transfer penalties; these regulations are similar to those in place for Medicaid benefit qualification. However, unlike for Medicaid, the VA will apply the asset limit to both the applicant’s assets and income.

The 2012 US Census brief reported that veterans aged 65 years or older numbered in excess of 12.4 million, according to the VA website. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, “The intended effect of these changes is to respond to recent recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office, to maintain the integrity of the VA’s needs-based benefit programs, and to clarify and address issues necessary for the consistent adjudication of pension and parents’ dependency and indemnity compensation claims.”

The proposed rule, “Net Worth, Asset Transfers, and Income Exclusions for Needs-Based Benefits” (https://1.usa.gov/1ljm3AG), was first announced on January 23, 2015, and could take effect as early as January 2016, although the exact implementation date has not been set.—Kara Rosania