There's a benefit through the VA called Aid and Attendance that pays up to $2,358 a month, tax-free, to qualifying wartime veterans who need help at home. The surviving spouse of a veteran can get up to $1,515 a month.
Most eligible veterans never apply. The Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs has been saying this for years. The benefit sits there, unclaimed, while the same veterans struggle to afford the in-home care they need.
I'm a nurse, and I run an in-home care agency in Salem. I see this every month. A family calls me about care for their dad. We start talking. Somewhere in the conversation, dad mentions Korea. Or the Navy in the '60s. Or a tour in Vietnam he hasn't talked about in fifty years. And I have to stop the conversation and say, "Wait. Did you know about Aid and Attendance?"
Nine times out of ten, they didn't.
This is the guide I wish every Oregon veteran's family had. Plain English. No bureaucratic fog. Step by step.
What Aid and Attendance actually is
It's a monthly cash benefit. The VA sends it to qualifying wartime veterans or their surviving spouses who need help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, eating, or managing medications.
The money is yours to spend on care. You can:
Hire an in-home care agency
Pay an individual caregiver
Pay for adult day care
Pay for assisted living
Pay for nursing home care
Pay a family member who's providing care
The 2026 monthly amounts:
Single veteran: up to $2,358/month
Married veteran: up to $2,795/month
Surviving spouse: up to $1,515/month
Veteran with sick spouse: up to $1,852/month
That's $28,000 to $33,000 a year, tax-free, that can transform what kind of care your family can afford.
Who qualifies
There are four boxes. All four must be checked.
Box 1: Service requirement
The veteran must have served at least 90 days of active duty, with at least one day during a recognized wartime period.
The wartime periods are:
World War II: December 7, 1941 – December 31, 1946
Korean War: June 27, 1950 – January 31, 1955
Vietnam War: November 1, 1955 – May 7, 1975 (if served in Vietnam); August 5, 1964 – May 7, 1975 (other locations)
Gulf War: August 2, 1990 – present
The veteran does NOT have to have served in combat. They don't have to have a service-connected injury. They just have to have served during one of these periods.
The veteran must also have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable.
Box 2: Care need (the "Aid and Attendance" part)
The veteran (or surviving spouse) needs help with at least one of these:
Help with daily activities (bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, getting in and out of bed)
Bedridden because of disability
Living in a nursing home because of physical or mental incapacity
Blindness or near-blindness
Most of our clients qualify on the first one. If your loved one needs help with bathing, dressing, or other daily tasks, that's the box being checked.
Box 3: Income limit
The VA has a complicated formula. Here's the simple version: if your unreimbursed medical expenses (including in-home care costs) bring your countable income below a certain limit, you qualify.
This is the part most people misunderstand and self-disqualify on. They look at gross income and assume they make too much. They don't realize that paying for in-home care subtracts from countable income.
Real example: Your dad has $4,000/month in Social Security and pension. He's paying $3,200/month for in-home care. His countable income for VA purposes is $4,000 minus $3,200 = $800/month. That's well within limits.
Don't disqualify yourself before you've done the math. The whole point of this benefit is that medical and care costs reduce what counts as income.
Box 4: Net worth limit
In 2026, the net worth limit is $163,699. This includes most assets the veteran owns.
What's NOT counted:
The veteran's primary residence
One vehicle
Personal belongings
Burial plots
What IS counted:
Bank accounts
Investments
IRAs and retirement accounts
Second homes or rental property
Cash value of life insurance
If you're over the net worth limit, there are legal ways to plan around it, but you must be careful. The VA has a three-year look-back period on asset transfers. Give away assets to qualify, and you can be penalized for up to five years.
How to apply: the step-by-step
Now, the part most articles botch. Here's exactly what to do.
Step 1: Gather your documents
Before you touch any forms, pull these together:
Veteran's DD-214 (discharge paperwork). If you can't find it, request a copy from the National Archives at https://www.archives.gov/veterans
Marriage certificate (if applying as a spouse or surviving spouse)
Death certificate (if applying as a surviving spouse)
Social Security numbers for the veteran and spouse
Bank statements from the last three months
Investment account statements
Tax returns from the last two years
List of all monthly income sources (Social Security, pensions, dividends)
List of all monthly medical expenses, including any current in-home care costs
This part takes the longest. Block out a weekend, or ask an organized family member to help.
Step 2: Fill out the right forms
There are two main forms:
VA Form 21-2680 — Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance.
This form has two parts. Section I you fill out yourself. Section II is the medical evaluation, which the veteran's doctor fills out. Don't try to skip the doctor's part. The VA needs medical evidence that the veteran genuinely needs help with daily activities.
Download: https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21-2680/
VA Form 21P-527EZ — Application for Veterans Pension (if the veteran is alive)
OR
VA Form 21P-534EZ — Application for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, Survivors Pension, and/or Accrued Benefits (if applying as a surviving spouse)
These are the pension applications. Aid and Attendance is technically an "add-on" to the VA Pension, so you have to apply for both at the same time.
Step 3: Get the doctor's exam done
Take Form 21-2680 to your loved one's primary care doctor. Ask them to complete Section II.
This is the part where most applications get rejected, because the doctor doesn't write strongly enough. A doctor who writes "patient is mostly independent" sinks the application. A doctor who writes "patient requires assistance with bathing, dressing, and medication management; cannot safely live alone" gets the application approved.
Help your doctor by being specific about what your loved one can't do on their own. If they can't safely bathe alone, say so. If they need supervision because of memory issues, say so. The doctor will document what you describe — but they can only document what they're told.
Step 4: Submit the application
You have three options. From best to worst:
Option A — Work with a VA-accredited agent or attorney (free). By federal law, accredited VA agents cannot charge you for help with the application itself. They can help you gather documents, fill out forms, and submit correctly. Find one through the Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs at https://www.oregon.gov/odva or by calling 1-800-692-9666.
Option B — Apply through the Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs. Oregon has Veteran Service Officers (VSOs) in every county. They help you apply for free. In Marion County, call the Marion County VSO at (503) 373-2085. They'll sit down with you and walk through it.
Option C — Apply yourself. Mail the forms to:
Department of Veterans Affairs
Pension Intake Center
PO Box 5365
Janesville, WI 53547-5365
Or apply online at https://www.va.gov
You can also walk into a VA Regional Office. Oregon's is at Veterans Affairs Regional Office, 100 SW Main St, Floor 2, Portland, OR 97204.
I strongly recommend Option A or B. The application is more paperwork than people expect, and one wrong form can delay a decision by months. Free help is available. Use it.
Step 5: Wait, then follow up
The VA's processing time varies from 3 to 9 months. Sometimes longer.
While you wait:
Keep paying for care if you've started. When approval comes, the benefit is paid retroactively to the date you applied.
Save all medical expense receipts. You may be asked to substantiate ongoing care expenses.
Don't make any large asset transfers. Stay clean during the application review.
Respond fast to any VA letters. They'll send requests for additional information. Ignoring them or being slow can kill the application.
What happens when you're approved
The VA sends a letter with your approval and monthly amount. The first payment includes everything owed retroactively to your application date. So if you applied in February and were approved in September, you get seven months of back pay all at once.
After that, the benefit is paid monthly via direct deposit, just like Social Security.
You don't have to "spend it on" anything specific. The VA doesn't audit how you use the money. But for tax purposes, you should keep records that show it went toward care, in case anyone ever asks.
What if you get denied
A denial isn't the end. You have one year to file an appeal. Common reasons for denial:
The medical evidence wasn't strong enough. Get a better doctor's letter that specifically documents the need for assistance.
The income/net worth calculation was wrong. Often the VA includes income that should have been excluded, or doesn't apply the medical expense deduction. Resubmit with clearer documentation.
The wartime service question was unclear. Provide more detail on the dates of service.
If you get denied, don't accept it without talking to a VSO or accredited agent. Many denied claims are approved on appeal.
A word about scams
Aid and Attendance is one of the most-scammed VA benefits in the country.
If anyone tries to charge you a fee to help you apply, walk away. It is illegal under federal law to charge for help with the initial application.
If anyone tries to sell you a financial product (annuity, irrevocable trust) to "help you qualify," talk to an independent elder law attorney first. These products are sometimes legitimate, but they're often pushed by salespeople taking advantage of veterans.
The free, legitimate resources are:
Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs: 1-800-692-9666
Marion County VSO: (503) 373-2085
VA national hotline: 1-800-827-1000
Veterans Service Organizations (VFW, American Legion, DAV) — all help for free
A note for surviving spouses
If your husband or wife was a wartime veteran and has passed, you might still qualify for Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance.
Many surviving spouses don't realize this benefit exists for them. They assume it ended with their veteran. It didn't. Up to $1,515 a month is available to qualifying widows and widowers.
If you're a Salem-area widow and you're paying for any kind of in-home help, check.
How AnchorPoint can help
I can't fill out your VA paperwork. That has to come from you, your doctor, and a VSO or accredited agent.
But what I can do is this. If you're an Oregon veteran or spouse of one, and you're trying to figure out whether in-home care is something you can afford, call me. We can talk through what care would actually cost, what level of help you'd need, and how Aid and Attendance might fit into the picture once it's approved.
Some of our clients start care privately while their VA application is in process. Once approval comes through, the back pay covers what they spent, and the monthly benefit covers ongoing care going forward. We help families bridge that gap all the time.
Call (503) 877-3126 or reach out through our contact form. Tell whoever answers, "I'm a veteran" or "my parent is a veteran" — we'll make sure you talk to me directly.
We serve Salem, Keizer, Woodburn, Silverton, Stayton, and the surrounding Marion County area.
This article is general information, not legal, financial, or tax advice. VA benefit rules are complicated and change. For decisions about your specific situation, talk to a VA-accredited agent, a Veteran Service Officer, or an elder law attorney. The 2026 benefit amounts cited are from the VA's published rate tables and may change.
By AnchorPoint Team · June 6, 2026