THIS ARTICLE IS INTENDED TO SUPPORT THE READER’S AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING.  IT IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.   IF THE READER SEEKS LEGAL ADVICE CONCERNING HIS OR HER PARTICULAR SITUATION, HE OR SHE SHOULD SEEK OUT AN ATTORNEY IN A LAWYER CLIENT RELATIONSHIP.

The Veteran’s Aid and Attendance Improved Pension Benefit  is a monetary “add on” to the Basic Veterans / Survivors Pension.  A veteran will medically qualify for this “Aid and Attendance” pension benefit if he is a patient in a nursing home for long term care because of disability or the evidence establishes that he is “bedridden” to the degree that he is so helpless as to need the regular, although not necessarily the constant aid and attendance or personal assistance of others.

The amount below is the maximum benefit amount a Veteran or surviving spouse may be entitled to for Basic Veterans / Survivor Pension plus Aid & Attendance Pension. Veteran with a spouse or dependent child – $33,548 / year ($2,795 / month)  See https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/va-pension-aid-and-attendance/#:~:text=%E2%80%A2%20Veteran%20with%20no%20spouse%20or%20dependent,%E2%80%93%20$21%2C696%20/%20year%20($1%2C808%20/%20month)

See below 38 CFR § 3.3 – Pension.

(3) Improved pension;  A benefit payable by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)  to veterans of a period or periods of war because of non-service connected disability or age…Payments are made monthly unless the amount of the annual benefit is less than 4 percent of the maximum annual rate payable to a veteran under 38 U.S.C. 1521(b), in which case payments may be made less frequently than monthly. Basic entitlement exists if a veteran:

(v) Meets the net worth requirements under § 3.274 and does not have an annual income in excess of the applicable maximum annual pension rate specified in § 3.23; and

vi)

(A) Is age 65 or older; or

(B) Is permanently and totally disabled from non- service connected disability not due to the veteran’s own willful misconduct. For purposes of this paragraph, a veteran is considered permanently and totally disabled if the veteran is any of the following….

See below 38 U.S. Code § 1502 – Determinations with respect to disability

(1) A patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of disability; or

(a) For the purposes of this chapter, a person shall be considered to be permanently and totally disabled if such person is any of the following:

(1) A patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of disability.

See below 38 CFR § 3.23 – Improved pension rates—Veterans and surviving spouses.

(a) Maximum annual rates of improved pension. The maximum annual rates of improved for the following categories of beneficiaries shall be the amounts specified in 38  U.S.C. §1521 and §1542, as increased from time to time under 38 U.S.C §5312. Each time there is an increase under 38 U.S.C. §5312, the actual rates will be published in the “Notices” section of the Federal Register.

(1) Veterans who are permanently and totally disabled. See 38 U.S.C. §1521(b) or (c)

(2) Veterans in need of aid and attendance. See 38 U.S.C. §1521(d)

1. b) Reduction for income. The maximum rates of improved pension in paragraph (a) of this section shall be reduced by the amount of the countable annual income of the veteran …. See 38 S.C. §1521, §1541

(d) Definitions of terms used in this section—

(2) In need of aid and attendance. As defined in § 3.351(b).

(4) Veteran’s annual income. This term includes the veteran’s annual income, the annual income of the veteran’s dependent spouse, ….See  38 U.S.C. 1541(c), (g))

See below 38 CFR § 3.351 Special monthly dependency and indemnity compensation, death compensation, pension and spouse’s compensation ratings.

(a) General. This section sets forth criteria for determining whether:

(1) Increased pension is payable to a veteran by reason of need for aid and attendance… See  38 U.S.C. 1521(d), (e)

(b) Aid and attendance; need. Need for aid and attendance means helplessness or being so nearly helpless as to require the regular aid and attendance of another person. The criteria set forth in paragraph (c) of this section will be applied in determining whether such need exists.

(c) Aid and attendance; criteria. The veteran ….will be considered in need of regular aid and attendance if he or she:

(2) Is a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity; or

(3) Establishes a factual need for aid and attendance under the criteria set forth in § 3.352(a). (Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1502(b))

See below 38 CFR § 3.352 – Criteria for determining need for aid and attendance and “permanently bedridden.”

• Basic criteria for regular aid and attendance and permanently bedridden. The following will be accorded consideration in determining the need for regular aid and attendance ( 3.351(c)(3): inability of claimant to dress or undress himself (herself), or to keep himself (herself) ordinarily clean and presentable; frequent need of adjustment of any special prosthetic or orthopedic appliances which by reason of the particular disability cannot be done without aid (this will not include the adjustment of appliances which normal persons would be unable to adjust without aid, such as supports, belts, lacing at the back, etc.); inability of claimant to feed himself (herself) through loss of coordination of upper extremities or through extreme weakness; inability to attend to the wants of nature; or incapacity, physical or mental, which requires care or assistance on a regular basis to protect the claimant from hazards or dangers incident to his or her daily environment. “Bedridden” will be a proper basis for the determination. For the purpose of this paragraph “bedridden” will be that condition which, through its essential character, actually requires that the claimant remain in bed. The fact that claimant has voluntarily taken to bed or that a physician has prescribed rest in bed for the greater or lesser part of the day to promote convalescence or cure will not suffice. It is not required that all of the disabling conditions enumerated in this paragraph be found to exist before a favorable rating may be made. The particular personal functions which the veteran is unable to perform should be considered in connection with his or her condition as a whole. It is only necessary that the evidence establish that the veteran is so helpless as to need regular aid and attendance, not that there be a constant need. Determinations that the veteran is so helpless, as to be in need of regular aid and attendance will not be based solely upon an opinion that the claimant’s condition is such as would require him or her to be in bed. They must be based on the actual requirement of personal assistance from others.