In this episode of Help Choose Home, we welcome Cheryl Hammons, CFE, CSA, strategic partnership director for Veterans Care Coordination, a business that helps qualified U.S. veterans and their surviving spouses access aid and attendance benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Veterans Aid and Attendance provides monthly payments to help cover the cost of care at home services for qualified veterans. Because the process to apply and remain eligible for this lifetime benefit can be confusing, Veterans Care Coordination works with veterans and their families to apply for the program and partners with home care organizations across the United States to provide the necessary in-home care services.
In this episode we discuss:
- An overview of Veterans Aid and Attendance
- Eligibility and screening
- Benefits of the program
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
The Veterans Aid and Attendance benefit is one of the best-kept secrets in the home care industry, and organizations like Veterans Care Coordination help veterans and their families determine eligibility and manage the screening process.
According to Cheryl Hammons, one of the many wonderful aspects of this program is that not only are veterans over the age of 65 eligible, but so too are spouses, surviving spouses and dependent children.
The program is designed to help wartime veterans of low-to-moderate income receive assistance at home for tasks such as bathing, dressing, preparing meals and many others. While there are a number of eligibility criteria, the need for help at home must be due to a non-service-related medical condition.
Cheryl points out that there is an annual cap on the benefit of approximately $27,000 for couples and $22,000 for individuals; however, the program provides lifetime benefits that can be accessed each year that the veteran is eligible. That’s where Veterans Care Coordination comes in. They not only help keep veterans eligible, by monitoring and maintaining the benefits, but they also help manage the benefit so that home care costs are covered and veterans receive the care needed, right in the comfort of home.
One of the qualifying factors for Veterans Aid and Attendance is maintaining an appropriate income to medical expense ratio. Because many of the veterans that Veterans Care Coordination serves are on tight budgets and unable to pay for home care prior to qualifying for Veterans Aid and Attendance, Veterans Care Coordination provides interest-free Care Advance loans that pay for short-term care until Veterans Aid and Attendance is approved.
Veterans Care Coordination has helped more than 14,000 veterans access home care services, and they routinely receive notes of appreciation from families. As Cheryl points out, home care services are a gift of independence for veterans and their families. What’s more, home care enables families to enjoy each other, and not need to worry about the caregiving piece.
After listening to this episode, you’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the Veterans Aid and Attendance program and the wonderful benefits the program provides to the men and women who have bravely served our country.
You can listen to today’s episode here, or on Apple Podcasts, Google, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.
To learn more about the growing impact and value of home care for older adults, listen to the Help Choose Home interview with Peter Ross, CEO and Co-Founder of Senior Helpers and immediate past president of the Home Care Association of America. Like many in the home health industry, a personal experience piqued Peter’s interest and moved him into the industry, helping him understand the ways in which home care not only benefits the client, but the client’s family as well.
If this episode has been helpful, be sure to leave a five-star review and share the podcast with your friends to help us in the national effort to educate about home healthcare options! You can connect with Merrily Orsini on Twitter: @MerrilyO.
Sponsors
The Help Choose Home podcast series is a collaborative effort by Axxess, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), and corecubed to educate the public about the many benefits of the in-home care industry, which includes non-medical home care, private duty nursing care, medical home health, hospice, and other in-home health and wellness services.
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