The Wait for VA Benefits is Long ….Unless You Know Who Can Help!
Recently, print and electronic media have run almost daily news stories about the VA’s inability to keep up with benefits claims. In a recent hearing convened by the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, VA Brigadier General Allison A. Hickey (Ret.), Under Secretary for Benefits actually admitted, “Too many veterans still have to wait too long to get the compensation benefits they earn, and that is unacceptable to us.”
Currently, the VA estimates that a veteran applying for benefits will wait an average of 273 days. For veterans filing first-time claims, that wait is nearly two months longer. Much of this backlog is due to the large number of Iraqi and Afghanistan veterans filing claims.
Still, a backlog at the VA means that older veterans or their surviving spouses filing for the Aid & Attendance benefit could wait much longer for their pension, unless they have help from someone familiar with the process.
Veterans Home Care has been helping aging veterans or their surviving spouses apply for and receive the full Aid & Attendance pension for more than 10 years. Nearly half of Veterans Home Care clients begin receiving their Aid & Attendance pension within four months, and 20% of clients wait 60 days or less.
Our experience helping aging veterans or their widows receive the pension to pay for home care has taught us valuable lessons:
• Those who are unable to adequately care for themselves vastly prefer home care to leaving home for assisted living or skilled nursing facilities.
• Our process for helping clients complete and submit paperwork to the VA plus our program to begin home care while the application is in the VA’s hands, creates better outcomes for older veterans and their families.
Even with the VA’s admitted backlog of pending applications, veterans can still begin receiving help in a timely manner. It’s all in knowing who to ask for help.
Veterans Home Care has offices in nine states and works with home care providers in 26 more states. Call us at 888-314-6075 or “like” us on Facebook.
Veterans Home Care is not a government agency and is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
