Detailed and well researched studies show that one reason people don’t like bureaucrats, doctors, and lawyers is because these professionals use jargon and complicated industry speak.  While maybe a surprise to these well educated professionals, most people prefer clear explanations that use everyday language to explain a concept.  If you can’t explain something to a ten year old, then you really don’t understand it yourself.

With that in mind, I will try to break down the phrase special monthly pension with aid and attendance.  Hopefully, by the end, you will understand the term and what each individual part means.  If you don’t, please let me know.  I conduct no obligation consultations to determine eligibility for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits.

Pension

I am starting with the broadest part of the term special monthly pension with aid and attendance.

A pension benefit from the VA means that the benefit is non-service connected.  The benefit is not based on any disability suffered by the veteran during his or her service.  While the veteran must meet requirements dealing with active duty service, no injury or service connected disability is required to receive pension from the VA.

The VA will look at the applicants financial information in order to determine pension eligibility.  This means that pension benefits have income and net worth requirements.  If the VA decides the applicants income or net worth is too high, they will deny pension benefits.

To summarize, VA pension is a non-service connected benefit that requires the applicant to meet certain income and net worth requirements.

Special Monthly Pension

Special monthly pension is a specific kind of pension.  In order to receive special monthly pension, the applicant must meet a health requirement.  An applicant can be eligible for basic pension, as discussed above, without needing any enhanced medical assistance.

Special monthly pension, however, requires that the applicant see a doctor and submit VA Form 21-2680 to the VA.  Based on this form, the VA will determine if the applicant meets the medical criteria necessary to be considered for special monthly pension.

Additionally, the applicant still must meet the service and financial requirements discussed in the Pension section of this article

Special Monthly Pension With Aid And Attendance

Special monthly pension with aid and attendance is a specific type of special monthly pension.  The two types of special monthly pension are aid and attendance and housebound.  Both types of special monthly pension require medical evidence before the VA will grant an award.

To meet the requirements for aid and attendance, the applicant must be a nursing home resident, blind, permanently bedridden, or in need of custodial care.   A nursing home resident and blindness are self explanatory.  As I’ve said elsewhere, you don’t need to worry about the meaning of permanently bedridden.  If the applicant is permanently bedridden, they also need custodial care.

Custodial care means assistance with at least two activities of daily living.  Activities of daily living, or ADL’s, are assistance with bathing, dressing, transferring, toileting, personal hygiene, and feeding.

To summarize, special monthly pension with aid and attendance is a Department of Veterans Affairs monetary benefit that examines an applicant’s active duty service (must be wartime), income, net worth, and health.

To schedule a no obligation consultation to review potential eligibility for VA benefits, contact us now.