{"id":899,"date":"2020-01-06T17:53:48","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T17:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/?p=899"},"modified":"2021-05-25T18:37:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T18:37:15","slug":"2020-aid-and-attendance-pension-rates-eligibility-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/2020-aid-and-attendance-pension-rates-eligibility-requirements\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Aid and Attendance Pension Rates &#038; Eligibility Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each year the Veterans Administration makes an adjustment to VA benefit pay rates based on the Social Security Administration\u2019s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This includes both disability compensation and pensions like Aid and Attendance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019, the increase\nwas 2.8%. This coming year (2020) the increase is 1.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cost of living adjustments started in 1975 to counteract inflation. Before 1975, Social Security\nincreases only took place when Congress enacted special legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What is Aid and\nAttendance <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aid and Attendance is a\nVA benefit for\nveterans and spouses who need long-term care. This tax-free benefit is a\nreimbursement for either home care, board and care, assisted living and skilled\nnursing home care. Home care can be provided by a friend, family member or\nprofessional caregiver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are the 2020 maximum Aid and Attendance benefit amounts for veterans and spouses based on the new cost-of-living increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"756\" data-src=\"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-Aid-Attendance-Benefit-Amounts.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-901 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-Aid-Attendance-Benefit-Amounts.jpg 620w, https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/2020-Aid-Attendance-Benefit-Amounts-246x300.jpg 246w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 620px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 620\/756;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2020 Aid and Attendance Benefit Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are very specific\neligibility requirements for the VA Aid and Attendance benefit. To start with,\nthe veteran must have served 90 days of active duty, with at least one day during\nan eligible period of war. The dates for World War II, the Korean Conflict,\nVietnam Era and Gulf War are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>World War II &#8211; December 7, 1941 to December 31, 1946<\/li><li>Korean conflict &#8211; June 27, 1950 to January 31, 1955 <\/li><li>Vietnam Era (serving in the Republic of Vietnam,\n     including ships in Vietnam coastal waters) &#8211; February 28, 1961 to May 7,\n     1975 <\/li><li>Vietnam Era (serving anywhere in the world) &#8211; August 5,\n     1964 to May 7, 1975<\/li><li>Gulf War &#8211; August 2, 1990 through a future date to be\n     set by law or Presidential Proclamation)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The veteran must also have\nhad an honorable (or anything other than dishonorable) discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other veteran requirements include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Must be 65 years of age\nor older or totally disabled (the disability does not need to be\nservice-connected);<\/li><li>Needs the assistance of another person to\nperform some of the daily activities of living like bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, and transferring.\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For surviving spouses:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Must have been married to the veteran at the\ntime of his\/her passing and not remarried,<\/li><li>Needs the assistance of\nanother person to perform some of the daily activities of living like bathing, dressing, eating,\ntoileting, and transferring. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Income and Assets<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA has stringent income\nand asset requirements for Aid and Attendance claims. The veteran or surviving\nspouse must meet the VA\u2019s financial criteria in order to receive the benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What does \u201cdependent\u201d\nmean?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans and surviving\nspouses can add dependents to their Aid and Attendance claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When a veteran is still\nmarried and his or her spouse needs care, the spouse is considered a dependent\nspouse. A married veteran can be awarded a Basic Pension if he or she has a\ndependent spouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Children, including\nbiological children, adopted children and step-children, may also be claimed as\ndependents if the children are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Unmarried, AND<\/li><li>Under the age of 18, OR<\/li><li>Between the ages of\n18-23 and attending school full-time, OR<\/li><li>Were seriously disabled\nbefore the age of 18.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Aid and Attendance process\ncan be complex and difficult, even when the veteran or spouse meets the basic\nrequirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you or a loved one are a veteran or spouse and need\nhelp paying for long-term care, contact one of our Benefit Consultants at\n877-427-8065 to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/aid-attendance-benefit-see-if-you-qualify\/\">find out more about\nAid and Attendance<\/a>, and how the benefit and claim process works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Each year the Veterans Administration makes an adjustment to VA benefit pay rates based on the Social Security Administration\u2019s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,260,23],"tags":[266,265,257,267],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aid-attendance","category-veterans-administration","category-veterans-aid","tag-2020-aid-and-attendance-benefit-amounts","tag-2020-aid-and-attendance-rates","tag-aid-attendance-benefit","tag-aid-attendance-benefit-amounts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanveteransaid.com\/newblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}