LETS DISCUSS THE BENEFITS
About the Pension
VA helps Veterans and their families cope with financial challenges by providing supplemental income through the Veterans Pension and Survivors Pension benefit programs. Veterans Pension is a tax-free monetary benefit payable to low-income wartime Veterans.
Benefit Description
VA offers two broad categories of Pension benefit programs:
Veterans Pension: Tax-free monetary benefit payable to low-income wartime Veterans.
Survivors Pension: Tax-free monetary benefit payable to a low-income, un-remarried surviving spouse and/or unmarried child (ren) of a deceased Veteran with wartime service.
Veterans and survivors who are eligible for Pension benefits and are Housebound or require Aid and Attendance of another person may be eligible to receive additional monetary amounts. These are called
ENHANCED PENSION BENEFITS. There are two types of Enhanced Pension Benefits; Aid & Attendance Benefit and housebound Benefits.
Attendance and Housebound
Veterans and survivors who are eligible for a VA pension and require the aid and attendance of another person, or are housebound, may be eligible for additional monetary payment. These benefits are paid in addition to monthly pension, and they are not paid without eligibility to Pension.
Since Aid and Attendance and Housebound allowances increase the pension amount, people who are not eligible for a basic pension due to excessive income may be eligible for pension at these increased rates. A Veteran or surviving spouse may not receive Aid and Attendance benefits and Housebound benefits at the same time.
Aid & Attendance (A&A)
What is Aid & Attendance?
The Aid & Attendance (A&A) increased monthly pension amount may be added to your monthly pension amount if you are eligible for basic pension benefits and if you meet one of the following conditions:
Who is eligible?
Veterans and surviving spouses eligible for basic pension benefits AND
- You require 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, protecting yourself from the hazards of your daily environment, or
- You are bedridden, in that your disability or disabilities requires that you remain in bed apart from any prescribed course of convalescence or treatment, or
- You are a patient in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity, or
- Your eyesight is limited to a corrected 5/200 visual acuity or less in both eyes; or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less
Housebound
This increased monthly pension amount may be added to your monthly pension amount when you are substantially confined to your immediate premises because of permanent disability.
