Vets in need urged to go through VA for pensions

Vets in need urged to go through VA for pensions
Frank Gray
April 22, 2012

For decades the Veterans Administration has had a pension program called Aid and Attendance that was designed to help some veterans and their spouses who need assistance in their daily lives.

Veterans who were receiving in-home assistance or living in assisted-living centers could receive sometimes generous monthly pensions to help cover those expenses.

The catch was that to be eligible, veterans had to have limited assets and limited income.

The VA didn’t try to keep the benefit a secret, said George Jarboe, Allen County’s veterans’ service officer, but it didn’t promote it heavily, either.

“It was designed to help people who have no money survive,” Jarboe said.

For years, most veterans knew little of the program, but about five years ago word got out and spread rapidly. Depending on their age, most wartime veterans or their widows can have $80,000 in assets, including their home, and depending on how much they spent on aid or assistance, they could get a pension.

Since the program has become popular, financial advisers have been taking full advantage of it. They have been counseling veterans and their spouses or widows that they could get the benefit, even if they had far too much in assets to qualify. All they had to do was “eliminate” their assets and they could start getting monthly checks.
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