| Pension raise possible for widow needing long-term care By George Compton Q. My mother is the widow of a veteran and has been receiving about $625 a month in widow’s pension from the VA, and she needs to go into long-term care. She will probably need an increase in her income. Will the VA help? A. We basically have two options. Needing long-term care means we need to have her evaluated for aid and attendance. With aid and attendance, her pension will increase to about $1,000 a month. Knowing the cost of long-term care and the fact that she does not have much income, the cost might still be out of her reach. If that is the case she needs to apply for Medi-Cal. The VA will not continue to provide her current pension under Medi-Cal, but there is another pension that provides an unmarried veteran or the widow of a veteran in long-term care $90 a month that is exempt from share-of-cost under Medi-Cal. Q. I am rated by the VA 40 percent disabled and my wife is going to have a baby. I am receiving compensation as married with one dependent. How will this affect my compensation? A. Provide this office with a birth certificate and the baby’s Social Security number and we will provide that data to the VA to add your child to your award. At 40 percent you should be receiving $568 a month. With the addition of a child that number will be $610 a month. The increase with the addition of a child is greater as the percentage of disability increases. This number changes every December with a cost-of-living adjustment. Q. In a recent column you discussed Combat Related Special Compensation being available for medical retired veterans. Based on that I applied for the compensation and I have never heard anything from my branch. Did I do something wrong? A. The services received implementation from the Defense Department earlier this month and have now started working on those claims. You should hear something soon. — George Compton, retired Army colonel, is the veterans service officer for the County of Ventura, Human Services Agency. Send your questions to Veterans Service Office, 1701 Pacific Ave., Suite 110, Oxnard, CA 93033; phone number: 385-6366; fax: 385-6371; or e-mail: George.Compton@ventura.org. —— MilitaryConnection.com is a portal of all things military. We have thousands of pages and hundreds of databases of valuable information and resources. There is something for everyone. All of this is provided free to users. Additionally, we feature all types of Press Releases like this one to keep you informed. We will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help organizations get out the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We are well aware that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |