My 57 year old uncle is in a LTC nursing home (about 1 1/2 years now). Medicaid is paying for his medical care and the nursing home takes his monthly social security disability check to help cover the costs of him living at the nursing home. He's just been granted a Veteran's monthly compensation disability check. Must this new income be reported to Medicaid? Will Medicaid disqualify him now and throw him out of the nursing home?
I really do not know if VA disability will touch the Medicare grant...
wish I could be of more help....you'll find out regardless....
I'm not sure if VA disability is the same as Aid & Attendance. But if it is this is what I've heard. My mom is in a NH that has lots of military (my Dad was a fed who worked within the military too) & it seems that A&A solo does not work well for paying the costs of a nursing home. A&A is rarely enough to cover the difference between NH cost & their income (SS, SSDI). On the other hand, Medicaid will cover this difference in cost so in most cases Medicaid is a better to be on to pay for everything for those in a NH.
Eligibility for Medicaid seems to cause difficulty for those who also want to receive their pension income in a nursing home. For a single person, VA usually refuses to pay the benefit if that person is eligible for Medicaid and will only pay $90 a month towards NH costs. BUT for a beneficiary with a spouse at home, the combination of A&A and Medicaid is can work but seems to be tricky to deal with. If your uncle has a spouse who on her own has significant recurring medical expenses or has a child that is a minor, it seems they can keep VA and the uncle can totally be on Medicaid. There is a younger 2nd wife @ my mom's NH who gets his VA as their son has asthma so they meet the requirement of recurring medical expenses and her personal income & assets are low enough so that it doesn't affect his Medicaid income & assets.
Really its just so specific to the individual circumstances so carefully ask @ the NH what is best to have him there with no costs to family. Good luck.
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