VA Benefits and Long-Term Care Insurance

Many of our clients find it helpful to use a long-term care insurance policy to help pay for the cost of assisted living facilities or nursing homes. However, if you use your policy after you have begun receiving VA benefits, it is important to remember to notify the VA about the new policy as soon as possible. Because you will begin receiving periodic payments from your long-term care insurance, your income will rise after the policy becomes active. Failing to notify the VA of the new insurance policy could cause the VA to send you a bill later for any VA benefits that you received that you were not entitled to.

In order to notify the VA of the change, you should send a copy of the long-term care insurance policy to the VA, along with a revised medical expenses form (VA Form 21-8416). This form will show the VA what you will be paying the nursing home or assisted living facility for the rest of the year from the date that the insurance policy became active. To access the medical expenses form, you can visit the following website: http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/vba-21-8416-are.pdf.