VA changes... don't know who this applies to? Anybody?

[Paul Albertine]

VA amends regulations on VA pension and other needs-based programs
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently amended its regulations governing entitlements to VA pension and Parents’ Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, which are need-based programs.  

“The amended regulations bring consistency to the pension process and ensure benefits are available for Veterans and survivors with financial need,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “They will help maintain the integrity of and provide clarity to our needs-based pension program.”

VA’s pension program provides monthly benefit payments to eligible wartime Veterans and their survivors with financial need.

The pension regulations, which were updated Oct. 18, cover the following:

Establish a clear net-worth limit for income and assets for Veterans to qualify for pension,
Establish a 36-month look-back period to review asset transfers at less than fair market value that reduce net worth and create pension entitlement,
Establish up to a five-year penalty period to be calculated based on the portion of the covered assets that would have made net worth excessive, and
Updates medical expense definitions for consistency with VA internal guidelines.
The changes are intended to ensure VA only pays benefits to those Veterans with a genuine need

[Mike Brinck]

Paul - since I retired from the HOUSE VETS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 18 months ago, I am going to wing it based on my experience, but sounds like the following.  For real details, vets should check with their service officer or call their VA Regional office (yes, I know... fat chance).

1.  Establish a clear net-worth limit for income and assets for Veterans to qualify for pension:
A:  Eligibility for VA's non-service connected disability pension program is based on a a maximum of combination of income and net worth.  In the past max income was roughly the official poverty level - about $17K-$18K for a single vet or about $21k-22K for a married vet.  Income over those amounts when exemptions like medical expenses were deducted would cause a dollar-for-dollar in the VA payment to bring the total to those levels.  I am not sure about net worth, but suffice it to say, a vet with a house or other assets worth millions will have a hard time qualifying.

2.  Establish a 36-month look-back period to review asset transfers at less than fair market value that reduce net worth and create pension entitlement:
A:  As in #1, if a vet owns a house or other significant assets and reduces the total net worth by giving or selling them at well below market value to reduce net worth in order to qualify for VA pension, VA will likely deny pension and VA will now look back 3 years to analyze the disposition of that net worth.

3.  Establish up to a five-year penalty period to be calculated based on the portion of the covered assets that would have made net worth excessive:
A:  This is a complete guess, but it sounds like when VA finds a case described in #2, they could deny qualification for pension for up to 5 years, probably based on some amortization of the amount of excess net worth over time.

4.  Updates medical expense definitions for consistency with VA internal guidelines:
A:  Medical expenses reduce the max income and possibly net worth in determining whether a vet qualifies for pension.  I do not remember for sure whether the reduction is dollar-for-dollar, but if it is, assuming if a vet has an income of $20K per year and spends $10K on non-service and service-connected medical care, only $10K would be counted as income and VA would give pension payments sufficient to bring the vet's total income to the limits noted in #1.

VA's website has a fairly good explanation of the pension program for non-service connected wartime vets.  see...

https://www.benefits.va.gov/pension/pencalc.asp

[Paul Albertine]

Thanks Mike, the Jesse Brown VA has quite a few older VN vets that would probably fall into this category.

[Mike Brinck]

I should have added that the "clarifications" to the regs are probably intended to tighten up what was a relatively loose program.  As a result, I suspect that rating officers will have firmer guidelines and allowed less subjectivity in making award decisions.   Like most things, the changes will be a 2 edged sword; it will be easier to award pension to those who clearly meet the new guideline.  It will also be more difficult to qualify for those whose income/exemptions/net worth less may exceed the new specs.