Changes to Veterans Administration Health Care Bennies - FYI

Marp

We had our Annual Case Review last week with the VA for my sister.  

 According to the social worker, the new assessment tool they use indicates my sister is only eligible for 7-9 hours a week total for services, both day care and in home care.  This past year, she was authorized for 25 hours of adult day care; we probably could have gotten a little home care as well on the weekends or in the morning, but we passed on that because we were managing fine. 

When he told me she was now eligible for less than half the services she has been receiving, I wanted to pack her up and send her home with him for a month or two and see how he does managing with only 7-9 hours/week of assistance.

Fortunately, the VA is grandfathering her in because she already receives the Adult Day Care services and they aren't going to take those away.  Veterans enrolling in these programs for the first time, though, may find the benefits they are offered to be much less generous than what was offered in the past.

mommafour

Marp - I'm glad you shared this information.  Last year, my DH was approved for 10 hrs per week of adult day care. Unfortunately, he declared his refusal to even check it out so I postponed the plan.  I am now waiting for a call from a social worker at the VA to discuss proceeding with adult day care at the first of the new year.  I recently started working from home 2 days per week based on the 10 hrs of VA assistance and budgeting for the remainder of time out-of-pocket.  This information is concerning and hopefully DH's previously approved 10 hours of VA assistance won't be reduced.

Marp

Hello mommafour.

So sorry to be slow to respond. I try to check my topics for responses and never saw your response. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

How did things end with your DH? Are they allowing him 10 hours of assistance? I suspect the 7-9/10 hours is pretty low on their scale so they may not reduce it.

Are you working at home two days a week and then in the office the other three?

M1

Marp I just posted on your other thread but putting it here too because you and others will read it. See what you can find out about gertting her designated as "catastrophically disabled." If not now, perhaps in the future.

Marp

Thank you, M1.

She is currently classified as 70% service connected disability due to a PTSD diagnosis resulting from some events that occurred while she was in the military. I don't know if getting the VA to designate her as "catastrophically disabled" will get her anything additional. I've been looking into it and trying to consider the risks versus the rewards.