Details

If you need help with your daily activities, or you’re housebound, you may qualify for Aid and Attendance or Housebound allowances in addition to your pension benefits.

Veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for Aid and Attendance if you get a VA pension and you meet at least one of the requirements listed below.

 

• You need another person to help you perform daily activities, like bathing, feeding, and dressing

• You have to stay in bed — or spend a large portion of the day in bed — because of illness

• You are a patient in a nursing home due to the loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability

• Your eyesight is limited (even with glasses or contact lenses, you have only 5/200 or less in both eyes or concentric contraction of the visual field to 5 degrees or less)

 

You may qualify for Housebound benefits if you get a VA pension and you spend most of your time in your home because of a permanent disability (a disability that doesn’t go away).

Note: You can’t get Aid and Attendance benefits and Housebound benefits at the same time.

 

To apply for these benefits, veterans and surviving spouses need an application (downloadable at www.vets.gov/pension/aid-attendance-housebound) as well as the following information:

 

• Evidence, like a doctor’s report, that shows you need Aid and Attendance or Housebound care, or VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), which your doctor can fill out

• Details about what you normally do during the day and how you get places

• Details that help show what kind of illness, injury, or mental or physical disability affects your ability to perform activities, like bathing, on your own

 

In Pennsylvania, the application and relevant information can be mailed to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, Attention: Philadelphia Pension Center, P.O. Box 5206, Janesville, WI 53547-5206.

Or, you may apply in person by bringing your information to a regional benefit office near you.

 

Source: www.vets.gov