Rating for Sick Wife of Vet with Alzheimer's?

[yachid25]

Hi,

I'm very happy I found this forum!

My situation:

My father is the vet (w/Alzheimer's, and is incontinent) and I put him into assisted living this summer after his sole caretaker, my stepmother, broke her hip and required an extended rehab stint. 

I am preparing an A & A application for him, and will get the primary care doctor to fill out the medical form for him.  He is a slam-dunk to get rated.

His wife is now home, and will receive, for several more weeks, home care courtesy of Medicare.  She, however, is in bad shape--she can't walk more than a block or so, and the doctors have advised her not to leave home without an aide due to her high risk of falling.  (Indeed, over the past month, she has fallen three times, and twice went to the ER to ensure nothing was broken.) Undoubtedly, she will have to hire some help privately in the near future.  She can feed, dress and groom herself but is no longer capable of food shopping and does limited cooking.

What is the best way to communicate her difficult state and the likely future impact on the family's finances?  I am using the new 21-527EZ, which requires me to attach the 21-686c form about dependents--should something (what exactly?) be included in the box on the final page of the form? Or should I get the family doc to fill out the medical form for her, and attach it to my dad's application?

Thanks in advance!

[vetadmin]

You need to submit the application as a veteran with spouse.  You would want to include the cost of her care with outside services coming in.
You also need to determine their "countable" income with the formula listed below.

The VA suggests that its adjudicators use a certain amount of personal judgment on this issue. But the bottom line is: does it realistically appear that the veteran or surviving spouse may outlive their assets? If so, they are likely eligible.

Do NOT count their residence or vehicle when estimating net worth.

Do NOT count a life insurance policy (because the policy holder must be
deceased in order to benefit from it).

DO count CDs, annuities, stocks, bonds, savings, checking, IRAs, Keogh,
etc.

DO count any assets owned by the spouse as well.

As a rule of thumb, assets should not exceed $80,000. That amount drops
depending on the age of claimant.

List below the estimated ANNUAL income of the veteran or surviving spouse:

 Estimate total income (If married include spousal income): ______

All income must be included. This includes social security, pension,
interest income, dividends, income from rental property, etc.

If the veteran is married, then any spousal income must also be included.

List all unreimbursed, recurring health care expenses:

 This includes:

 Assisted Living costs (per month): _________________

 Nursing Home costs (per month):________________

 Home Care service (per month):_______________

 Health Insurance premium (per month):_______________

 Medicare premium (per month):_________________

 Regular (unreimbursed) prescriptions
 (per month & verifiable through a pharmacy print-out): _____________

 TOTAL Expenses per month: __________
 (multiply x 12 to get total annual expenses)

Subtract your total annual health care expenses from your total annual
income and write the amount here: _____________. This is your "countable" income

[yachid25]

Thanks for your reply.

The issue is that she has not, as yet, accrued home health-care costs--but I want to establish that she is quite fragile, and will likely need such services in the very near future.

The question is: how can I establish that?  Via getting a form from the doctor (e.g. the same form the doctor will fill out for my dad), or writing out my own narrative?  If the latter, where should it be inserted?

But I am glad to hear that I can count her known recurring costs (medicare, health insurance, meds, dental costs)--I thought I could only count his costs.

[jpez]

you really DONT want to establish future need.
you will complicate the app process for dad.
 The VA ia proceedure driven.  Deviating will be non-productive.
the A&A Pension is for the VET while alive.  once dad passes then mom is eligible