What Is the Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit?

by with No Comment Long-Term CareMedicaidNursing HomesVeteran's Benefits

”Aid and attendance” is a commonly used term for a little-known veterans’ disability income. The official title of this benefit is “Pension.” The reason for using “aid and attendance” to refer to Pension is that many veterans or their single surviving spouses can become eligible if they have a regular need for the aid and attendance of a caregiver or if they are housebound. Evidence of this need for care must be certified by VA as a “rating.” With a rating, certain veterans or their surviving spouses can now qualify for Pension.

The purpose of this benefit is to provide supplemental income to disabled or older veterans who have a low income or high medical costs. Pension is for war veterans who have disabilities that are not connected to their active-duty service. Pension is primarily intended for very low income veterans, but a special provision in how Pension is calculated can allow veterans or single surviving spouses with high income to also receive the benefit which may be as much as $1, 949 a month. This special provision kicks in for veterans who have ongoing and expensive long term care costs.

Aid and Attendance Pension benefit can pay up to $1,949 a month for qualifying long term care needs such as:

  • Family members who provide home care
  • Professional home care providers to come into your home
  • Assisted Living or Adult Day services
  • Nursing Home long term care
  • Home renovations for disability
  • Prescription drug costs
  • Insurance premiums
  • Diabetic or incontinence supplies
  • Other un-reimbursed medical expenses

If the veteran’s income exceeds the Pension amount, there is usually no award given, however, income can be adjusted for unreimbursed medical expenses, and this allows veterans with household incomes larger than the Pension amount to qualify for a monthly benefit. There is also an asset test to qualify for Pension.

If you have assets and a sizable income, you will most likely need and benefit from the services of a Veterans Benefits Consultant concerning what you need to do before you submit to the VA for an award. It is extremely important that assets that might be gifted or converted to income also meet Medicaid gifting rules in case the veteran or the surviving spouse may have to apply for Medicaid. The consultant can help avoid Medicaid penalties associated with reallocating assets.

Angela N. Manz is a veteran’s benefits consultant who understands the aid and attendance benefit as well as Medicaid rules. Angela N. Manz can be reached at 757-271-6275 or by going to www.manzlawfirm.com

Average Cost of a Nursing Home Inches Closer to $80,000 a Year

by with No Comment Care ManagementLong-Term CareMedicaidNursing HomesUncategorized

Although the US economy has seen price rollbacks during the last year, long-term care providers have actually been raising rates, according to the 2009 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs. Private room nursing home rates rose 3.3 percent to an average of $79,935 a year or $219 a day, while assisted living also climbed 3.3 percent on average to $37,572 a year or $3,131 a month.

Home health care aides now cost an average of $21 per hour, which represents a 5 percent jump, and adult day care services now average $67 per day, a 4.7 percent increase over 2008.

The MetLife survey also reports on the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, which increased 4 percent to $198 a day, or $72,270 a year. The cost of a semi-private room in an Alzheimer’s or Memory-Care wing averages $75,920 annually.

Once again, the highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2009 were found in Alaska, where the cost is $584 a day on average. The lowest rates were found in Louisiana (with the exception of Baton Rouge and the Shreveport area), at $132 a day.

The cost of assisted living was the highest in Wilmington, Delaware, at $5,219 a month and the lowest in North Dakota at $2,014 a month. Home health care aide services ranged from a high of $30 an hour in Rochester, Minnesota, to $13 and hour in the Shreveport area. Adult day care services were highest in Vermont at an average $150 a day and lowest in the Montgomery, Alabama, area, at $27 a day.

For the full MetLife 2009 survey report, including the average long-term care costs for selected cities, please follow this link:

http://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/mmi/publications/studies/mmi-market-survey-nursing-home-assisted-living.pdf

Beware of Generic Health Care Proxy Forms

by with No Comment Estate Planning

If you go to the hospital, you may be presented with a health care proxy form to sign on being admitted. While it might seem easy to sign a generic health care proxy form, having a document that is specifically tailored to your needs is very important.

A health care proxy form, also known as an advance medical directive, allows you to appoint someone else to act as your agent to make medical decisions for you when you are unable to make them yourself. It should also include a Living Will that states what your wishes are for end of life care.

An advance medical directive takes effect only when you require medical treatment and a physician determines that you are unable to communicate your wishes concerning what that treatment should be. Appointing someone to serve as your agent helps ensure that your wishes will be carried out when a crisis occurs.

While an advance medical directive serves to appoint an agent to speak for you, you can also use it to give the agent guidance about your medical wishes. The following are some issues that can be addressed in an advance medical directive:

  • The name of the person authorized to act for you. It is good to appoint an alternate as well in case your primary agent is unable to assist you.
  • If you are terminally ill, in a coma, or have brain damage with no hope of recovery, you can explain the kind of treatment you do not want. For example, do you want to be kept alive by machines if you are in a persistent vegetative state?
  • Under what circumstances you want pain medication to be administered.
  • Whether you want to donate your organs.
  • Whether you want to be cremated or buried and where and how your remains should be disposed of.

Whatever choices you make, you should take time to consider your health care wishes before drafting an advance medical directive. For this reason, signing a generic hospital form is not a good idea, as such a form will not take your individual wishes into account. Instead, you should work with an estate planning attorney to have a proper advance medial directive prepared that reflects your personal wishes. In addition, if you already have an advance medical directive as a part of your estate plan, the generic form will revoke your more personal advance medical directive.

The Law Office of Angela N. Manz can help you create a document that specifically addresses your unique situation and feelings on medical decisions and end of life care. Email us for more information by clicking here.