Steadfast Care Planning
Steadfast Care Planning is for people who want to learn how to best plan for their longevity including how to navigate extended care, long-term care insurance options, and other challenges that older adults face. Join Kelly Augspurger, Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)® and long-term care insurance specialist as she has thought-provoking conversations with industry professionals. Tune in as Kelly guides you on how to plan for care to live well.
Steadfast Care Planning
VA Long-Term Care Benefits with Carmen Perry Tevaga
If you are or know someone who is a Veteran or a Vet’s spouse, what LTC benefits are available to you?
Join me and my guest, Carmen Perry, VP Strategic Partnerships at Veterans Home Care, as we discuss LTC benefits for Veterans and their spouses.
In this episode:
🔹 What LTC benefits are available to Vets and their spouses?
🔹 Are VA LTC benefits received in home or in facilities? Can Vets choose?
🔹 What are the income and asset requirements for Vets and spouses to receive benefits?
🔹 What are the care needs and time of service requirements for Vets and spouses to receive benefits?
🔹 If a Vet has LTC insurance, how does that coordinate with VA benefits?
🔹 How do Vets and spouses find out what they qualify for?
Watch this episode on YouTube:
For additional information about Kelly, check her out on Linkedin or www.SteadfastAgents.com.
To explore your options for long-term care insurance, click here.
Steadfast Care Planning podcast is made possible by Steadfast Insurance LLC,
Certification in Long Term Care, and AMADA Senior Care.
Come back next time for more helpful guidance!
Kelly Augspurger: [00:00:15] Hey everyone. Welcome to Steadfast Care
Planning where we plan for care to live
well. I'm your guide, Kelly Augspurger. With
Kelly Augspurger: [00:00:16] me today is Carmen Perry, VP of Strategic
Partnerships at Veterans Home Care. Carmen,
thanks so much for being here!
Carmen Perry: [00:00:18] My pleasure. Thank you so much for having
us.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:00:25] Today we are going to be talking about long
term care benefits that are available to
veterans and their spouses. So, Carmen, can
Kelly Augspurger: [00:00:26] we jump right in?
Carmen Perry: [00:00:26] Let's do it.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:00:27] All right. What long term care benefits are
available to vets and their spouses?
Carmen Perry: [00:01:00] So there's quite a few benefits through the
VA that are available, but there's a
specific benefit that our program, Veterans
Carmen Perry: [00:01:00] Home Care, helps with, and that's the
benefit called Aid and Attendance. And it's
a benefit that's specifically designed to
Carmen Perry: [00:01:01] help veterans and this is also one of the
few benefits that are available for their
surviving spouses. It helps them really
Carmen Perry: [00:01:01] cover that cost of care that we all know is
quickly increasing across the country.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:01:11] And so what kind of benefits are actually
available? Are these benefits available in
the home? Are they in facilities? Can the
Kelly Augspurger: [00:01:12] Vets and spouses choose where they receive
these benefits? Sure.
Carmen Perry: [00:01:35] So this benefit is going to be really
specifically for anything that's medically
necessary so you can receive these benefits
Carmen Perry: [00:01:35] in your home. Our program, the Vet Assist
program, helps people use this benefit for
home care. It can also be used if you're in
Carmen Perry: [00:01:35] an assisted living facility and you're
receiving care in that facility, it can be
used for that as well. So, yes, they do have
Carmen Perry: [00:01:35] the right to choose how their benefit is
administered, which is really good.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:01:53] Okay I would imagine like with most people,
at least the clients that I serve, Carmen,
they want to most likely, most often receive
Kelly Augspurger: [00:01:53] care at home. So do you see Veterans and
their spouses maybe starting with care at
home and then sometimes they move into some
Kelly Augspurger: [00:01:53] kind of a facility or VA community?
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] Kelly, you make a very good point. I tell
everyone, I've been in the health care
industry for 20 I say 20 years, but, I hate
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] to date myself. As long as I've been in the
health care industry, I have never once, not
one time ever received a phone call from
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] somebody telling me they want to go into a
facility. So, yes, the majority of our aging
population, they want to stay at home where
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] they're most comfortable as long as they
possibly can. We definitely help people do
that with our Vet Assist program. But yes,
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] there becomes a point where there is no
choice and they do need additional care that
they can't receive in their home and this
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] benefit can transfer right on over to any
sort of assisted living facility that they
graduate to and needing higher levels of
Carmen Perry: [00:02:34] care.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:02:46] Okay, great. I know there are different
requirements in order to actually qualify
for a VA Aid and Attendance. So can you tell
Kelly Augspurger: [00:02:46] us what are the income and asset
requirements for the Vets and the spouses to
be able to receive those benefits?
Carmen Perry: [00:03:36] So it's kind of a tricky thing to figure out
the income. And let me tell you why. When
you're qualifying for aid and attendance,
Carmen Perry: [00:03:36] you basically take somebody's income and you
find a medical expense to match it. So there
really is no magic number when it comes to
Carmen Perry: [00:03:37] the income because you're basically if you
have a medical expense to match your income,
you can qualify. When it comes to assets,
Carmen Perry: [00:03:37] there is a limit. It is right around
$150,000 in liquid assets, but that doesn't
include your home. So your primary place of
Carmen Perry: [00:03:37] living, they don't include that, a vehicle
is also excluded. What's going to be
included is really anything that has a cash
Carmen Perry: [00:03:37] value that your Social Security number is
attached to. So any kind of investment
accounts, secondary homes, multiple
Carmen Perry: [00:03:37] vehicles, those types of things that will
actually hold a value. They don't want to
see that exceed around $150,000.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:03:38] Okay. Is that per person? Is that for a
couple? How does that work if you're
married?
Carmen Perry: [00:03:55] So that is per couple or if it's a single
veteran or surviving spouse on their own,
that would be for them alone. But if it's a
Carmen Perry: [00:03:55] couple, that $150,000 is not going to be
individual, it's going to be collective.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:04:06] And then what about care needs and time of
service requirements? What does that look
like in order to qualify for benefits? Do
Kelly Augspurger: [00:04:07] you have to have a certain level of care in
order to receive benefits?
Carmen Perry: [00:04:32] So when you're receiving Aid & Attendance,
they're really looking to see that you need
the aid and attendance of another person. So
Carmen Perry: [00:04:32] they're going to be looking for about 2 to 3
activities of daily living that you'll be
needing assistance with. That can be standby
Carmen Perry: [00:04:32] assist to make sure that if you're in the
shower, you're not falling. That can be meal
preparation, lighthouse keeping, even
Carmen Perry: [00:04:32] transportation. So really they're looking to
see that you need assistance with 2 to 3
activities of daily living.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:07] Oh, interesting. Okay. So in my world, in
the long term care insurance world, we're
looking at activities of daily living as
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:07] well. but we're looking at transferring,
toileting, bathing, dressing, eating and
continence. That meal prep, the
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:07] transportation, that sort of thing is not
considered an ADL. Those are considered what
we call instrumental activities of daily
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:07] living. So you can't trigger a claim if you
need help with meal prep, but if you do need
help with two out of those six ADLs and you
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:07] also need meal prep, they can help with
that. So you're saying with Aid in
Attendance, that meal prep or transportation
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:08] can count as an activity of daily living?
Carmen Perry: [00:05:34] It can and let me give you a scenario of
where that would really come into play. When
you have somebody who's a high fall risk,
Carmen Perry: [00:05:34] which means they can't stand at a stove and
prepare their own meals, that's when meal
prep will come into play. When you have
Carmen Perry: [00:05:34] somebody who has cognitive impairment, can't
even remember to make themselves a meal.
That's where meal prep comes into play. So,
Carmen Perry: [00:05:34] yes, it is kind of a symptom of sometimes a
bigger picture, but it does play a role in
activities of daily life. So yeah.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:43] Okay. And then what about service
requirements? What type of quantity or
quality? Like what does that look like for a
Kelly Augspurger: [00:05:43] Vet that had time in the military?
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] Yeah. So when you're looking at the time
that they're going to get authorized for,
what that really comes down to is Aid &
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] Attendance has a maximum benefit amount for
each status. So for surviving spouse, it's a
little over $1,400 and it goes all the way
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] up to married Veteran who's getting around
$2,600 a month. That's going to break down
into the hourly rate that's in your area.
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] And as we know, cost of care varies so
significantly from coast to coast and
anywhere in between. So in California, say
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] where the average cost of care is between
$40 and $50 an hour, that little pot of
$2,600 is going to get you less care than,
Carmen Perry: [00:06:25] say, somewhere in Kentucky where the cost of
care is averaging around $27 per hour.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:06:26] For sure.
Carmen Perry: [00:06:26] So it really just depends on where you are in
the country. And then that pot of money is
just going to get you whatever you can
Carmen Perry: [00:06:32] wherever you live.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:06:32] Okay.
Commercial Voice: [00:06:33] Now for a brief message from our show
sponsor, The Steadfast Care Planning podcast
is sponsored by the LTC Certified and
Commercial Voice: [00:06:41] Long-Term Care Training Program, which gives
financial advisors tools to discuss extended
care planning with their clients. Look for
Commercial Voice: [00:06:48] the LTC designation when choosing an
advisor.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:06:51] What about as far as you know, they have to
have served during a wartime. Is that
correct? Can you talk about that?
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] Yeah, so the benefit Aid & Attendance was
actually designed to help wartime veterans
and their surviving spouses. So if they
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] served during World War II, if they served
during the Korean conflict, if they served
during Vietnam, and if they served we're
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] also counting the Persian Gulf wars right
now as well. There's no end date that has
been determined by Congress. So any of those
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] war periods will count. You have to have
active duty during those war periods. Now,
that does not mean you had to have served in
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] combat. There's separate benefits for those
Veterans that served in combat. It doesn't
mean you have to have been injured while you
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] were serving in the military because there
is a separate benefit for those Veterans
that were injured during their service to
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] the military, and it's called service
connected disability. And again, a
completely separate benefit. This benefit is
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] if you were active duty during those war
periods and just kind of give an example. I
had a Veteran a long time ago who was active
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] duty during Vietnam. He never left the
United States. He was an English teacher on
base. So he never served in any active
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] combat. And his daughter kept telling me, "I
don't think he's going to qualify. He wasn't
hurt." And I said, "No, no, no, no. He was
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] active duty during a war period." So just to
kind of separate the two. There are
benefits, so many benefits available for our
Carmen Perry: [00:08:15] Veterans, but this one, you just have to
have had that active duty during the war
period.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:08:35] Got it. So you don't have to actually see
the war up front in your face in order to
actually receive these benefits as long as
Kelly Augspurger: [00:08:36] you were active duty. Okay, hood
clarification. Do you see Veterans have long
term care insurance benefits? And if so, how
Kelly Augspurger: [00:08:36] do you see that coordinating with the VA
benefits, assuming they're eligible for
benefits?
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] Sure, so when we're looking at Aid and
Attendance specifically, they're going to
take any type of income you receive and
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] they're going to calculate that towards your
benefit eligibility. With long term care
insurance, this is something that I have
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] seen really kind of in a specific group of
Veterans that that all bought it around the
same time and then not for awhile. Long term
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] care insurance, as it comes in, it's
utilized for care, so it's not technically
considered an income. It's kind of a wash
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] because if whatever money they get is going
towards the care that they need and so it's
not really going to be counted against their
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] income. But I do see Veterans with long term
care insurance. It was, I think for a long
time sold and then they kind of stopped for
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] awhile and now it's becoming more popular
again, and I'm glad to see that because the
cost of care is only going up and the more
Carmen Perry: [00:09:27] resources you can kind of create for
yourselves to cover that cost, the better
off you're going to be.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] Yeah, totally agree. Especially when you're
talking about those coasts, right? I mean,
you mentioned California. Cost of care out
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] there is going to be a lot more expensive
than it is in the Midwest. And so how are
people going to be able to pay for this
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] care? And you also said earlier - did you
say the maximum benefits was like, was it
$2,600? $2,600 is the max monthly that one
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] person, one Veteran or spouse is going to be
able to qualify for. So how much care does
that actually cover? Like there's probably
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] going to be a gap, especially if you're
needing a significant amount of care like
there's probably going to be a gap there. So
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:04] you got to come up with a way to be able to
really fill in that gap. How are you going
to do that?
Carmen Perry: [00:10:26] And just to clarify on the amount, the
surviving spouse that applies for this
benefit is only going to get around $1,400 a
Carmen Perry: [00:10:26] month. They won't get $2,600 because that's
all they offer to a surviving spouse. A
single Veteran is going to get around $2,200
Carmen Perry: [00:10:26] a month and then a married Veteran gets the
$2,600. So those pots get smaller and
smaller as you go down and it's definitely
Carmen Perry: [00:10:26] something to be aware of.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:57] Right, so if you're a Veteran or you're a
Veteran spouse, this is something that you
want to look into, but don't necessarily
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:58] count on it for it to cover all of your long
term care expenses, it's like icing on the
cake. I've got, you know, whether it's
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:58] $1,400, $2,200, $2,600 per month, that's
awesome. Thank you, government. I served my
Country, but I got to have another way to be
Kelly Augspurger: [00:10:58] able to fill in that gap, right?
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] 100%
Kelly Augspurger: [00:11:44] Yeah. So, Carmen, how do Vets and their
spouses find out what they actually qualify
for? What's the process?
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] So you can actually go over to our website.
So www.VeteransHome Care.com and there's an
eligibility checklist. So you can actually
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] kind of ask yourself these questions. You
know, the Veterans served during a war
period. Do I need assistance with activities
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] of daily living? Do my liquid assets exceed
$150,000? But there is a whole eligibility
checklist there to kind of guide you through
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] it. We also have our own enrollment team
that is standing by to take calls. They can
answer any questions you guys may have and
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] also you guys can get my contact
information, give me a call because I tell
everybody this, as soon as anyone hears
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] about a benefit through the VA, their first
question is, do I qualify? And there's so
many more questions than places to find
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] answers. So we really do try to make
ourselves available to help people kind of
navigate whether they qualify or not
Carmen Perry: [00:11:44] quickly.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:11:45] How long does that process typically take,
like from start to finish?
Carmen Perry: [00:12:19] So from start to finish, from the day that,
you know, someone usually contacts us til
the day a caregiver is walking through the
Carmen Perry: [00:12:19] front door, we have really streamlined that
process. So it takes about 30 to 45 days,
which is pretty quick. I've been doing this,
Carmen Perry: [00:12:19] here at the Vet Assist program for 11 years.
I've had to take two days. I've had to take
two years. So I like to tell people, you are
Carmen Perry: [00:12:19] in the driver's seat of how quickly this
will go. Our goal is to help you get care as
quickly as possible in the home. So we're
Carmen Perry: [00:12:19] going to assist you guys in every way we
possibly can to get that quickly done.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:12:28] Ok, so if the Veteran and their spouse, if
they're able to get all the information and
get their ducks in a row, that makes the
Kelly Augspurger: [00:12:28] process go much more smoothly and faster.
Carmen Perry: [00:12:28] Oh, absolutely.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:12:29] Yeah,
Carmen Perry: [00:12:43] Absolutely and we have a full on-support
team that will kind of handhold you through
this very complicated process. So you're
Carmen Perry: [00:12:43] never going to be left alone trying to wing
it and figure it out. We will assist you
guys. That's why we call it the Vet Assist
Carmen Perry: [00:12:43] program.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:12:50] There it is. Well, Carmen, how do you guys
get paid? Do you charge the Veteran and
their spouse or who is paying you for your
Kelly Augspurger: [00:12:51] services?
Carmen Perry: [00:13:32] Sure, so there's actually no out of pocket
cost for our services. We contract with care
providers nationwide to provide care to our
Carmen Perry: [00:13:32] clients, our Veterans and our surviving
spouses. Our amazing partners that we work
with give us those services at a discounted
Carmen Perry: [00:13:32] rate. When we help our clients get those
funds from Aid and Attendance through the VA
when they finally come in, they use those
Carmen Perry: [00:13:33] funds to pay our program back. So there
really is no out of pocket cost to work with
our program. And when we get reimbursed from
Carmen Perry: [00:13:33] our clients from that VA fund, we get
reimbursed at standard market rate. So
really it is the long term partnerships that
Carmen Perry: [00:13:33] we've had with our care providers that allow
us to provide these services at no out of
pocket cost to our clients.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:13:45] Fantastic. So the Veterans and their spouses
don't have to worry about coming up with a
chunk of change to be able to pay for your
Kelly Augspurger: [00:13:45] services too. They don't have to worry about
that. Yeah, that's that's taken care of.
Well, Carmen, any other advice on how people
Kelly Augspurger: [00:13:45] can plan for care to live well?
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] I would say do your research. There are so
many organizations out there. I work with so
many that are doing everything right and
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] trying to make sure that everybody is
protected and in their aging years, but you
have to be careful. And so my best advice is
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] always do your research, always go to the
Better Business Bureau. I always say that
they will be honest and you can get an
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] unbiased opinion on how someone's operating
their organization. Talk to people that you
do trust and you do know in the in the
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] industry. People that have been in this
industry for a long time will tell you who
to work with and who not to. So do your
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] research. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
There are so many people out here trying to
help you guys age in place and age as safely
Carmen Perry: [00:14:26] as possible.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:14:32] Fantastic. Carmen, where can people find out
more information about Veterans Home Care
and how you help people?
Carmen Perry: [00:14:40] Sure! Well, again, head over to our website.
It is super easy to access and use, and it's
very user friendly. It's mobile friendly
Carmen Perry: [00:14:41] www.VeteransHomeCare.com.
Kelly Augspurger: [00:14:48] Okay. Awesome. Well, Carmen, thanks so much
for your time today and your expertise.
Really appreciate it! Have a wonderful day.
Carmen Perry: [00:14:49] Thank you.
