VA Aid & Attendance Eligibility Estimator

Key Takeaways: Va Aid and Attendance at a Glance 💡

How much can I actually get? A single veteran can receive up to $2,424 per month. A married veteran can receive up to $2,874 per month. A surviving spouse can receive up to $1,558 per month. These are the 2026 rates effective December 1, 2025.

Does my disability have to be service-connected? No. Some veterans mistakenly believe their disability must be service-connected to qualify through the pension pathway. It does not. You need qualifying wartime service and a medical need for assistance, but the condition causing that need can be entirely unrelated to your military service.

What’s the net worth limit? As of December 1, 2025, through November 30, 2026, the net worth limit is $163,699. Your primary home and personal vehicle are excluded from this calculation.

How long does approval take? In most cases, expect roughly nine months from submission to approval. However, filing a Fully Developed Claim with complete documentation can significantly accelerate the process.

Can surviving spouses get this benefit? Yes. Widows and widowers of qualifying wartime veterans may be eligible even if they weren’t married during the veteran’s active service, as long as the marriage was legally valid and they haven’t remarried.

Who helps me apply for free? The VFW, American Legion, and Disabled American Veterans all assist veterans in completing Aid and Attendance forms free of charge, with local posts and chapters in most cities across the country.

What’s the single biggest reason claims get denied? Insufficient documentation of care needs is one of the most frequent reasons for denial. Simply stating you need help isn’t enough. You need detailed medical evidence.

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🎖️ 1. You Served During Wartime? That’s the First Door, and Most Veterans Don’t Realize Their Era Qualifies

The military service requirement is both simpler and broader than most people think. A veteran must have served at least 90 days of active duty, with at least one day during a wartime period, even if no combat actually occurred.

Here’s where families get confused: “wartime period” doesn’t mean you personally fought in a war. It means you wore the uniform during a specific date range that Congress designated as a period of conflict. If you served stateside filing paperwork during Vietnam-era dates, you still qualify.

🎖️ Wartime Period	📅 Qualifying Dates	💡 Critical Note
World War ii	Dec 7, 1941 – Dec 31, 1946	Includes all active duty during these dates
Korean War	Jun 27, 1950 – Jan 31, 1955	No combat requirement whatsoever
Vietnam Era	Nov 1, 1955 – May 7, 1975 (in-country) / Aug 5, 1964 – May 7, 1975 (elsewhere)	Two different start dates based on location
Gulf War	Aug 2, 1990 – present (ongoing)	Still technically active; no end date declared

The veteran must not have received a dishonorable discharge, and veterans who entered active duty after September 7, 1980 generally must have completed at least 24 months of service or the full period for which they were called to duty.

💡 Pro Tip: If you can’t find a veteran’s DD-214 discharge papers, don’t panic. The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis maintains military service records and can provide replacements. Call (314) 801-0800 or submit Standard Form 180. This single document is the key that unlocks every VA benefit, so getting a certified copy is non-negotiable.

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💰 2. The Net Worth Test Has a Giant Loophole Called “Unreimbursed Medical Expenses” That Can Slash Your Countable Assets

This is the part where most families assume they’re disqualified and walk away. The net worth limit for 2026 is $163,699, and this figure includes both your countable assets and your annual income combined. Your primary residence and one vehicle are excluded.

But here’s the critical mechanism that changes everything: the VA allows you to subtract unreimbursed medical expenses from your countable income. This deduction can dramatically lower your countable income and help you qualify even if your gross income initially seems too high.

What counts as an unreimbursed medical expense? Far more than most people realize:

Medicare premiums (Parts B and D), Medigap supplemental insurance premiums, prescription drug copays, dental work not covered by insurance, hearing aids, eyeglasses, in-home caregiver costs, assisted living monthly fees, adult day care charges, medical equipment like walkers and wheelchairs, and even the cost of transportation to medical appointments.

💰 Your Situation	📊 2026 Maximum Annual Pension Rate	💵 Monthly Equivalent
Single veteran, no dependents, with A&A	$29,093	~$2,424
Veteran with one dependent, with A&A	$33,548 (example from VA)	~$2,796
Married veteran, with A&A (max)	$34,492	~$2,874
Surviving spouse, no dependents, with A&A	$18,703	~$1,558

Here’s how the math actually works. Your VA pension equals the difference between your countable income and the Maximum Annual Pension Rate for your category. So if your countable income after medical expense deductions is $10,000 per year and your applicable rate is $29,093, you’d receive approximately $19,093 annually, or about $1,591 per month.

💡 Pro Tip: You can only deduct unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 5% of your applicable Maximum Annual Pension Rate. For a single veteran with the A&A rate of $29,093, that threshold is about $1,454. So if your total medical expenses are $8,000, you can deduct $6,545 ($8,000 minus $1,454) from your countable income. Track every single receipt. Every copay. Every insurance premium. The math matters enormously.

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🏥 3. The Medical Qualification Is Where 90% of Denials Happen, and Your Doctor’s Exact Words Make or Break Your Claim

You may be eligible if you need another person to help you perform daily activities like bathing, feeding, and dressing, or you have to stay in bed or spend a large portion of the day in bed because of illness, or you’re a patient in a nursing home due to loss of mental or physical abilities, or your eyesight is limited to 5/200 or less in both eyes.

That’s the VA’s official language. Sounds straightforward. But the devil lives in VA Form 21-2680, the medical examination form that a physician must complete to support your claim. And this is precisely where most applications fall apart.

If you go to the VA’s website to download the form, you will see that there are no instructions on how to fill it out. The VA provides a two-page form with tiny answer boxes and zero guidance for the doctor completing it. Most physicians have never seen this form before, don’t understand what the VA is looking for, and write answers so brief they’re essentially useless.

The best descriptions of medical symptomatology include three factors: frequency, chronicity, and severity. Your doctor shouldn’t write “patient needs help bathing.” They should write something like: “Due to progressive osteoarthritis in both hips and severe balance deficits persisting for the past 14 months, the patient requires physical assistance from another person to safely enter and exit the bathtub, stand during showering, and maintain upright posture while performing hygiene tasks. This limitation is permanent and expected to worsen over time.”

❌ What Gets Denied	✅ What Gets Approved	💡 Why It Matters
“Needs help with daily activities”	“Cannot safely bathe without falling; requires hands-on assistance from another person 7 days per week due to bilateral knee instability”	Specificity shows the VA reviewer exactly what the limitation is
“Patient is elderly and frail”	“Patient’s Parkinson’s disease produces tremors severe enough to prevent self-feeding; requires meal preparation and spoon-to-mouth assistance at every meal”	Connects the diagnosis directly to the functional limitation
“Limited mobility”	“Uses wheelchair full-time; cannot transfer from bed to chair without another person’s physical support; has experienced 4 falls in the past 6 months”	Frequency and severity data give the reviewer concrete evidence

Just because the VA only leaves room for three-word answers doesn’t mean you are limited to three-word answers. Use continuation sheets. Attach additional pages. The more detailed and specific the physician’s documentation, the stronger your claim.

💡 Pro Tip: If you use a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant to fill out VA Form 21-2680, the VA will very likely reject the form. The form must be completed and signed by a licensed physician (M.D. or D.O.). This catches many applicants off guard, especially those whose primary care provider is an NP or PA. If your regular provider isn’t a physician, ask them to refer you to a supervising doctor who can complete the form.

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⏰ 4. The 36-Month “Lookback” Trap That Nobody Warns You About Until It’s Too Late

In 2018, the VA implemented a rule that mirrors what Medicaid has done for years: a lookback period on asset transfers. The three-year lookback period catches many applicants off guard. The VA will scrutinize any large asset transfers or gifts made within three years of your application.

This means if your dad gave $50,000 to his grandchildren last year to “reduce his net worth” before applying for Aid and Attendance, the VA will discover that transfer and impose a penalty period during which benefits won’t be paid. The penalty is calculated by dividing the transferred amount by the Maximum Annual Pension Rate.

What the VA considers a “covered asset transfer” includes gifting money to family members, selling property below fair market value, moving funds into irrevocable trusts (with some exceptions), and adding someone’s name to a bank account or deed without receiving fair value in return.

⏰ Lookback Factor	📋 What the Va Examines	⚠️ Penalty Consequence
36-month window	Every financial transaction before the application date	Benefit payments delayed by a calculated penalty period
Gift transfers	Money given to children, grandchildren, or anyone else	Divided by the applicable pension rate to determine months of ineligibility
Below-market sales	Property or assets sold for less than fair value	Difference between fair value and sale price counts as a transfer
Trust transfers	Assets moved into certain irrevocable trusts	May be treated as a disqualifying transfer

💡 Pro Tip: If you’re thinking about applying within the next three years, freeze all large gifts and asset transfers immediately. Consult an elder law attorney before moving money around. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys at (703) 942-5711 can connect you to qualified attorneys in your state who specialize in both VA benefits and Medicaid planning simultaneously.

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📋 5. The “Intent to File” Form Is a Free Insurance Policy That Could Be Worth Thousands in Back Pay

Before you have all your documentation ready, file VA Form 21-0966, the Intent to File. This preserves your earliest possible effective date.

Here’s why this matters more than almost anything else in the process: once the VA approves the application, benefits are retroactive to the original filing date. So if you file an Intent to File today and it takes nine months for your full application to be processed and approved, you’ll receive a lump-sum back payment covering all those months.

At $2,874 per month for a married veteran, that’s potentially over $25,000 in retroactive payments. But only if you filed the Intent to File before the clock started ticking. Without it, your effective date becomes the date you submitted your completed application, not the date you first contacted the VA.

The Intent to File gives you one year to submit your completed application with all supporting documentation. Use that year wisely to gather medical records, track unreimbursed expenses, get VA Form 21-2680 properly completed by a physician, and organize all financial documentation.

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🔍 6. Here’s How to Estimate Your Benefit Before You Apply (a Step-By-Step Eligibility Calculator)

The VA doesn’t provide a simple online calculator that spits out a number for you. So let’s build one using the actual formula the VA uses.

Step 1: Determine your Maximum Annual Pension Rate

Look at the table in Section 2 above and find the category that matches your situation (single veteran, married veteran, surviving spouse, etc.) with the Aid and Attendance enhancement.

Step 2: Calculate your countable income

Add up all annual income sources: Social Security benefits, pension payments, investment income, retirement account distributions, and any income your dependents receive.

Step 3: Subtract unreimbursed medical expenses (above the 5% threshold)

Total every out-of-pocket medical cost for the year. Subtract 5% of your applicable Maximum Annual Pension Rate from that total. The remainder is your deductible medical expense.

Step 4: Determine your adjusted countable income

Subtract your deductible medical expenses (from Step 3) from your total countable income (from Step 2). If the result is negative, your adjusted income is zero, and you’d receive the full maximum benefit.

Step 5: Calculate your estimated annual benefit

Subtract your adjusted countable income from your Maximum Annual Pension Rate. Divide by 12 for your monthly payment.

📊 Estimation Example	💵 Amount
Married veteran’s A&A Maximum Annual Pension Rate	$34,492
Combined annual income (Social Security + small pension)	$24,000
Total unreimbursed medical expenses (assisted living, Medicare premiums, Rx copays)	$42,000
5% threshold of the applicable rate	$1,724
Deductible medical expenses ($42,000 – $1,724)	$40,276
Adjusted countable income ($24,000 – $40,276)	$0 (negative becomes zero)
Estimated annual benefit	$34,492 (full maximum)
Estimated monthly payment	~$2,874

This example illustrates a critical insight: veterans already paying for assisted living or significant in-home care almost always qualify for the maximum benefit because their unreimbursed medical expenses completely wipe out their countable income.

💡 Pro Tip: Calculate all unreimbursed medical expenses and track every out-of-pocket cost, including Medicare premiums and prescription copays. Families routinely undercount these expenses by forgetting to include items like insurance premiums, over-the-counter medications recommended by a physician, incontinence supplies, and caregiver costs.

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📞 7. These Organizations Will Help You Apply for Free, and Here’s Exactly Who to Call

The services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free. Every single time. The major veteran service organizations maintain thousands of trained representatives across the country whose sole job is helping veterans navigate exactly this kind of paperwork.

🏛️ Organization	📞 Contact Number	🎯 What They Do	💡 Insider Note
Va Benefits Hotline	1-800-827-1000	General inquiries, claim status, direct guidance	Open Mon-Fri, 8am-9pm Eastern; ask specifically about “pension with Aid and Attendance”
American Legion	(800) 433-3318	Free claims assistance through accredited service officers nationwide	Also offers a free Claims Coach mobile app for iPhone and Android
Veterans of Foreign Wars (Vfw)	(816) 756-3390	National Veterans Service with trained claims officers	Local posts in most cities can provide in-person help
Disabled American Veterans (Dav)	(877) 426-2838	Free benefit claims assistance, transportation to VA appointments	One of the most experienced organizations for pension claims
Senior Veterans Service Alliance	veteransaidbenefit.org	Education, forms, accredited representative referrals	No member charges fees directly related to filing an initial claim
Va Accredited Representative Search	va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative	Find attorneys, claims agents, and VSO reps in your area	Accredited VSO representative services are always free; attorneys and claims agents may charge fees but only after an initial unfavorable decision
National Personnel Records Center	(314) 801-0800	Replacement DD-214 and military service records	Essential if discharge papers are missing
Va Pension Intake Center (mail)	PO Box 5365, Janesville, Wi 53547-5365	Where completed applications are mailed	Send via certified mail with return receipt requested

💡 Pro Tip: You don’t have to be a member of the American Legion, VFW, or DAV to receive their free claims assistance. Many families don’t know this. Walk into any local post and ask for their Veterans Service Officer. They will sit down with you and help complete the paperwork at absolutely no cost.

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⚠️ 8. The Six Application Mistakes That Guarantee a Denial (and Exactly How to Avoid Each One)

Incomplete application forms, including leaving out required sections or failing to sign forms, can result in a denial before the VA even reviews your medical or financial evidence.

Let’s walk through every major pitfall:

Mistake number one: Weak medical documentation. One of the most frequent reasons for denial is insufficient documentation of care needs. Your doctor should explain which specific activities you need help with and exactly why. Include caregiver statements, cognitive impairment documentation, and recent hospitalization records.

Mistake number two: Using the wrong medical professional. VA Form 21-2680 must be prepared and signed by a medical doctor. If you use a nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant, the VA will very likely reject the form and may deny your claim outright rather than simply requesting a corrected version.

Mistake number three: Forgetting the 36-month lookback. A 36-month lookback period is in place to prevent applicants from transferring assets to qualify. If you moved money around within three years of applying, be prepared to explain or face a penalty period.

Mistake number four: Not filing Intent to File first. Filing VA Form 21-0966 preserves your earliest possible effective date, which directly determines how much back pay you’ll receive when approved.

Mistake number five: Missing VA response deadlines. If the VA requests additional information or evidence, they typically give you 30 to 60 days to respond. Missing these deadlines can result in denial based on insufficient evidence.

Mistake number six: Underreporting medical expenses. Families frequently forget to include Medicare Part B premiums, dental expenses, over-the-counter medications prescribed by a doctor, medical transportation costs, and adaptive equipment. Every dollar of unreimbursed medical expense reduces your countable income and potentially increases your monthly benefit.

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🔄 9. Got Denied? The Three Paths to Overturn an Unfavorable Decision

A denial is not the end. The VA has a structured appeals process, and many initial denials are reversed on review.

You can request a Higher-Level Review if you believe the VA made a mistake in evaluating your claim. This sends your case to a more experienced reviewer but does not allow new evidence. You can also appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, where a Veterans Law Judge reviews your case. You can choose to submit new evidence, request a hearing, or ask for direct review of the current record.

There’s also a third option called a Supplemental Claim, where you submit new and relevant evidence that wasn’t in your original application. This is often the best path if your denial stemmed from weak medical documentation, because you can get a more detailed physician’s report and resubmit.

🔄 Appeal Option	⏱️ Timeline	📋 What to Know
Supplemental Claim (new evidence)	Typically 3-6 months	Best option if medical documentation was weak; get a new, detailed physician report
Higher-Level Review (same evidence)	Typically 2-4 months	Senior reviewer re-examines the existing record; no new evidence allowed
Board of Veterans’ Appeals	Can take 12+ months	Most thorough review; allows hearing before a Veterans Law Judge

💡 Pro Tip: If your claim was denied because of medical documentation issues, don’t just resubmit the same form. Get a different physician, preferably one experienced with VA claims, to complete a fresh VA Form 21-2680 with exhaustive detail. Attach continuation sheets. Include statements from family caregivers describing every single task they perform daily. Then file a Supplemental Claim with all the new evidence attached.

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🏠 10. Aid and Attendance Can Pay for Assisted Living, Nursing Homes, or In-Home Care, and Here’s the Part Nobody Mentions

The VA’s Aid and Attendance benefit provides financial assistance, and the benefit does not require the recipient to use the funds to pay for care, as it can be provided by a spouse, relative, or friend.

Read that again. The VA doesn’t dictate how you spend the money. You can use it to pay a professional caregiver, cover part of your assisted living bill, pay your daughter who quit her job to take care of you, or put it toward any combination of care expenses. This flexibility is extraordinarily rare among government benefits programs.

And here’s the part that really matters for families doing the financial math: a person can simultaneously receive Medicaid benefits and a VA pension, although the benefits may be somewhat limited. For example, if a veteran is in a nursing home on Medicaid, the VA pension gets reduced to $90 per month. But for veterans receiving care at home or in assisted living, the full Aid and Attendance amount can often be combined with other benefits.

🏠 Care Setting	💵 How A&A Helps	⚠️ Watch Out For
In-home care (family caregiver)	Full benefit goes directly to the veteran; family member doesn’t need to be licensed	Track expenses meticulously for annual verification
In-home care (professional agency)	Benefit offsets hourly caregiver costs ($25-$40/hour)	May not cover full-time care alone; supplement with other resources
Assisted living facility	VA pensions can be used to pay for assisted living	Monthly fees typically exceed the benefit amount; plan for the gap
Nursing home (private pay)	Benefit covers a portion of the $10,000+/month cost	If you switch to Medicaid, pension drops to $90/month

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

“My father served in the military but I can’t find any of his paperwork. Is there any hope?”

Absolutely. Contact the National Personnel Records Center at (314) 801-0800 to request replacement discharge documents. You can also submit Standard Form 180 by mail. If records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at the St. Louis facility (which affected millions of Army and Air Force records), the center has reconstruction specialists who can piece together service history from alternative sources like unit rosters, pay records, and medical files. It takes time, but it’s doable.

“My mom is the surviving spouse of a Vietnam veteran. She never served herself. Can she still qualify?”

Yes. Surviving spouses may qualify for Aid and Attendance as long as the veteran met the service and discharge requirements, the surviving spouse hasn’t remarried (with rare exceptions), and the spouse meets the financial and medical criteria. The maximum monthly benefit for a surviving spouse with A&A in 2026 is $1,558. She doesn’t need a service-connected disability. She just needs to demonstrate that she requires assistance with daily activities or is housebound.

“Someone called offering to help us apply for Aid and Attendance for a ‘small fee’ of $2,500. Is this legitimate?”

Almost certainly not, and it may actually be illegal. Federal code and VA regulations prohibit accredited agents or attorneys from charging a fee to provide assistance with an application prior to an unfavorable decision from the VA. The American Legion, VFW, and DAV will all help you apply for free. If someone is pressuring you to pay upfront for claims assistance, report them to your state’s attorney general and the VA Office of Inspector General at (800) 488-8244.

“We already applied three months ago and haven’t heard anything. Is something wrong?”

Not necessarily. The application process takes roughly nine months from submission to approval in most cases. You can check your claim status by calling the VA Benefits Hotline at 1-800-827-1000 or logging into va.gov. If the VA requests additional information, they usually give you 30 to 60 days to respond, so watch your mail carefully and respond immediately to every request.

“My dad already gets 100% VA disability compensation. Can he also get Aid and Attendance?”

Yes. Even if you’re a veteran who already receives 100% VA disability, Aid and Attendance can increase your monthly payments. In this scenario, A&A would be added as Special Monthly Compensation rather than through the pension pathway, and the financial means test doesn’t apply the same way. This is one of the most commonly overlooked combinations in the entire VA benefits system.

“Does the VA count my house and car against the net worth limit?”

No. Your primary home and vehicle are not counted as assets in the net worth calculation. The $163,699 limit applies to financial assets like bank accounts, investments, and other property combined with your annual income. This exclusion is a significant relief for veterans who own their home but have limited liquid assets.

“What if my parent has dementia and can’t sign forms?”

If the veteran or surviving spouse lacks the cognitive capacity to manage their own affairs, a family member can apply on their behalf. You’ll need to establish legal authority through a power of attorney, guardianship, or VA fiduciary appointment. The VA regional office can guide you through the fiduciary process, or contact the DAV at (877) 426-2838 for assistance navigating this sensitive situation.

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The Bottom Line: This Benefit Exists Because Your Family Member Earned It

The VA Aid and Attendance pension represents real money, $1,558 to $2,874 every single month, tax-free, that can fundamentally change the quality of care an aging veteran or surviving spouse receives. The application process is slow, the forms are poorly designed, and the VA doesn’t go out of its way to publicize this benefit. But the organizations listed in this guide exist specifically to cut through that red tape at no cost to you.

Start today. Call the VA Benefits Hotline at 1-800-827-1000 and say these exact words: “I’d like to file an Intent to File for Aid and Attendance pension benefits.” That single sentence locks in your effective date and starts the clock on potential retroactive payments worth thousands of dollars.

Then contact the American Legion at (800) 433-3318, the VFW at (816) 756-3390, or the DAV at (877) 426-2838 and ask for a Veterans Service Officer who can walk you through every form, every calculation, and every strategy for building the strongest possible claim. They do this every day. They’re good at it. And they won’t charge you a penny.