Veteran Programs

Service Criteria: The veteran must have served at least 90 days of active duty, with at least one of those days of service occurring during wartime. Additionally, he or she must have been honorably discharged.

Financial Criteria: While there are income and asset limitations, the requirements are less stringent than those for Medicaid. Veterans with moderate financial means may still qualify.

Health Criteria: Applicants must be 65 or older and demonstrate a need for assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, eating, etc.

Many families assume there's just one VA program for home care, and stop looking once the first one doesn't seem to fit. There are actually a couple of different paths, and it's worth checking both before ruling anything out.

Aid and Attendance is a VA pension benefit: additional monthly income for eligible wartime veterans, or their surviving spouses, that can go toward the cost of in-home care. Separately, ALS is credentialed within the VA Community Care Network, which means veterans already enrolled in VA healthcare may be able to access home care through that system directly, without going through the Aid and Attendance pension process at all.

These two paths have different applications, different offices, and different timelines. The fastest way to know which one, or both, apply to your situation is to walk through it with our team rather than guess from a general description.

Getting started looks a little different depending on which VA path applies to you.

If you're pursuing Aid and Attendance, that application goes through the VA directly, or through a Veterans Service Officer who can help file it at no cost. Once that's underway or approved, we can build a care plan around it.

If your loved one is already enrolled in VA healthcare, ask their VA care team about a referral through the VA Community Care Network. Because ALS holds that credential, a referral can route directly to us.

Either way, you don't have to have the paperwork figured out before you call. Tell us where things stand, and we'll help you figure out which path applies and what happens next.