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Assisted Living and Veterans Benefits

December 2021

Assisted living provides a community-like living environment with private or shared rooms and apartments for residents in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Williamsburg, and Newport News. This option of senior care gives the choice of communal dining or preparing and eating meals in their apartments. Around the clock care is available to provide senior care assistance to residents with their activities of daily living, such as bathing, grooming, and mobility. The level of senior care provided is significantly less than is offered in nursing homes. Social and recreational activities are available throughout the day.

Understanding how veterans benefits can pay for assisted living and the senior care services received therein is a little complicated. It is helpful to break the cost of assisted living into different components. Some assisted living communities will bill veterans for care services separately from room and board costs. Most communities also permit residents to receive outside assistance with senior care services in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Williamsburg, and Newport News.

Although the VA does not directly pay for assisted living nor offer its own assisted living residences, there are several ways veterans can receive assistance from the VA to pay for assisted living. The most common way for veterans to pay for assisted living is using Aid and Attendance. This pension benefit is designed for veterans who require assistance with their activities of daily living and can be applied to whatever purpose the recipient desires, and therefore, towards assisted living rent, board or senior care services. Please note, while the VA does not pay directly for assisted living, they may pay for additional services the veteran requires while living in the facility.

Besides the Aid and Attendance pension benefit option is the Veteran Directed Care Program, which used to be called the Veterans Directed Home and Community Based Services Program. Via this program, veterans can receive supportive senior care services in their homes or communities, which include independent living communities. To be clear, veterans who reside in nursing homes and assisted living residences are not eligible for this program. There are also programs that help pay for assisted living that are not specifically for veterans.