19 replies to this topic

[Amper Sand]

Does a totally disabled retiree who is admitted to a VA hospital for permanent long-term nursing care, forfeit some or all of his VA disability compensation or military retirement pay while awaiting death in that facility?

Logically it would seem the retiree would not continue to receive VA disability compensation while a patient in a VA nursing home facility -- that his VA compensation would be used to help defray the cost of his care.

Thanking everyone in advance for information. Several vets are curious and can't find a definitive answer.

[john999]

Frank


You have to be at least 70% service connected to get into a VA nursing home for long term care.

[john999]

Frank

Very tricky!!! If you are 100% I think you can avoid that trap and get the care if it is available. I wonder if they would just pay for the home you are in and not send you to a VA home. That I don't want, ever unless I am senile and then I won't care.

[john999]

Frank

My mother was killed by a nursing home in Florida. I took care of two of my relatives who were in nursing homes. I am afraid of them as you might suspect. Even though I have TDIU I still pay for long term insurance for me and my wife. I sued the nursing home that neglected my mother and won half a million for the estate. I know a little about medicade and the "look back" law. If you are not concerned about it you should be I promise you. The national average for a nursing home today is about $60,000 a year. Imagine dealing with the VA over this!

[Pete53]

I was of the opinion that after 90 days the VA cut your Disability Pay to 10% if you were on the VA's dime at the nursing home. I had heard rumors that if the Veteran was in a home that they could petition the VA to pay the spouse the 90% but it is all very confusing and I would very much like to hear the facts from a Hadit expert.

Also as I feel right now I would rather eat a bullet than go to a nursing home.

[john999]

Peter

Hmmm.... I think you need to consider if you spouse is alive or passed on before you take the gaspipe.
It is a realistic consideration. You eat the bullet will your life insurance pay off or do heirs get stuck. I think a nice assisted suicide with all the friends present and being able to say goodbyes would be a nice way to go out. You know if you go to the nursing home that is the end of the line. If you just need help and are not being tube fed it could be OK. In my living will I have no tubes or ventilator jazz. I want my wife to pull the plug if I am going to be brain dead or wear a diaper. All this stuff depends of your general state of health. If I am bad off I want my wife or whoever to do a "DNR" order on me. I told her if it is just an infected hang nail not to kick the plug from the wall. This is why I try to be nice. Take a large dose of Versed and you won't know and you won't care. I sometimes think dogs and cats get a better deal than us humans. They get a shot and it is lights out and then peace.

[Berta]

1968- the quote you gave -is this from AARP?

Also is there a rigamorale in applying for Long Term Health Care policies?

My tax man said most people never go into a nursing home anyhow -so he didnt advise me to get it.

But that quote you gave does not seem high for what I think these policies entail.


Good question on the VA nursing homes-I have never found a straight answer on what they cost the vet-

I believe a vet has to be at least 60% service connected these days to get into a VA nursing home.But I think many NSC vets were grandfathered in when that became a law.

Does anyone have some info on the VA's nursing home criteria and how that works?

[john999]

I got long term care policies with good companies for five year terms with inflation kickers. It was about 118.00 a month. I got these policies when I and my wife were about 50 years old. The older you get the more expensive, of course. If you have certain types of chronic diseases you won't qualify usually. At leasat half of people will end up in nursing homes. It is now about 50-60 thousans a year. In ten years it will be 75-100 thousand a year for a decent home. This should be part of a financial plan if you have any assets at all you want to pass to kids. The nursing home bill will also make life hard for the other spouse if that person is alive.

[john999]

Frank

I guess I want options. My mother died through nursing home malpractice. I sued the heck out of them but the damage was done. I am willing to pay for options and that is why I keep my private health insurance. If you get the long term care insurance when you are fairly young it is not that expensive. If you wait then it gets very expensive. If I could be sure of the kind of care I would get then I would go with the VA. I live in Florida so you know there are just millions of vets competing for any kind of care.

[mssoup1]

[font=Arial][size=3]

1968 mentioned in his post of being misdiagnosed and having confused records. It is very important for any veteran, whether they have a claim in or not, to always get a copy of their medical records after each visit and read over them to ensure they are correct. If they are not, then you need to take a copy of them back to your doctor and point out to them the areas that are not correct and have them to correct it. Having the wrong information in a doctors report could/can cause a lot of problems for you in the future.

My husband has received copies of some of his reports, and I do believe that before they were entered into the system, they had my husband mixed up with another veteran. I have even seen things written into a report as though my husband was asked about this, but he never was. I know, I was there with him. So, how did this information get asked and answered in this report.

JMO

mssoup1