Number One Provider of Medicaid Compliant Annuities

Veterans Planning and Medicaid Compliant Annuities

In a case where a veteran resides in an assisted living facility, and is concerned that his or her monthly income is insufficient to meet his or her needs, the veteran may want to consider qualifying for the Veteran's Aid and Attendance Program. 

Veteran's Aid & Attendance Pension Program

On July 24-25, 2008, Connie Ashley and Kendra Bishop, of Krause Financial Services, attended Attorney Victoria L. Collier's educational program entitled "VA Benefits Aid & Attendance Income Workshop", in New York, NY. 

The purpose of their attendance was to gain accreditation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for Krause Financial Services to offer Aid & Attendance benefit planning to elder law attorneys, and their clients.  Even though the Aid & Attendance Program offers benefits to many qualified individuals, including those receiving home health care, Krause Financial Services is looking to help those elder law attorneys who have clients that are residents of assisted living facilities.  In light of the above, the Aid & Attendance benefit offers a monthly stipend ($1,554.00 to single veterans, $1,842.00 to married veterans, and $998.00 to a widowed spouse of a veteran) to help qualified individuals pay for assisted living costs.

The Aid & Attendance Program has 4 basic requirements, to-wit: The Military Service Requirement, the Medical Necessity Requirement, the Monthly Income Requirement, and the Asset Requirement.  The Military Service Requirement is satisfied by a showing that the veteran served during an active wartime, and was respectfully discharged.  The Medical Necessity Requirement is satisfied by having the qualified individual obtain a physician's statement that he or she needs to reside in the assisted living facility.  The Monthly Income Requirement is satisfied by having the qualifying individual show that his or her monthly income is less than the monthly assisted living costs.  Finally, the Asset Requirement is satisfied by having the qualifying individual show that his or her non-countable assets are valued at less than $80,000.00.     

In 99% of the cases that Krause Financial Services handles, the qualifying individuals have had substantially more than $80,000.00 in liquid assets.  However, by implementing a few simple planning strategies, Krause Financial Services was able to qualify the qualifying individuals for the Aid & Attendance monthly benefit.

With the Aid & Attendance monthly benefit in place, the qualifying individuals were no longer concerned that they would exhaust their life savings and be forced to leave the assisted living facility.

Blending the Veteran's A & A Program into a Medicaid Plan

With more elder law attorneys expanding their practices to include the offering of the Veteran's Aid & Attendance (A & A Program) benefits to their clients, if the plan is not properly structured, it may cause the client to be ineligible for Medicaid benefits in the future.  Where does the problem lie?

The problem lies in the fact that the A & A Program does not have a look back period for improper transfers or gifts, while the Medicaid program does.  As such, in a typical A & A planning case, where a couple has excess resources, the A & A advisor will usually direct the couple to transfer the problem assets directly to their children.  With the A & A Program not penalizing transfers or gifts, the couple can be wealthy one day, and poor the next, thus qualifying for A & A benefits.  However, if either the husband or wife should need to enter a nursing home facility within the 60 months following the date of the improper transfer or gift, he or she will not be immediately eligible for Medicaid benefits.