Defining Veterans Benefits

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

This is a special presentation of answers for elders with Careage and welcome to answers for elders radio. Everyone. It’s a wonderful Saturday and we’re here with two very lovely ladies, a lady bag the name of Pam Nagel from Tracy Wall and associate there, a law firm in Edmonds, Washington, and our Wonderful Wendy Davis from Patriots Glen, a Careage Company, and we’re here talking about veterans benefits and a or what what? In the VA they call it aid and attendance benefits, and you know this is, I guess, a lot of confusion with families here today and I think we want to do our goal today is to not only clear up a few questions, is if a family might qualify, but the other thing that we want to do is talk about some special workshops that are coming up next week, and so we’re looking forward to talking with both of you. So welcome to answers for elders radio, both of you. Thanks. Thank you us. That’s nice to be here. Well, Pam, I am excited. First of all, I want to talk a little bit with you about Tracy Wall and associates. You guys have been a law firm in the Edmonds area for a while. What tell us a little bit about your firm? Well, Tracy Wall Law and associates is Tracy, Nikki, Jessica and myself at community outreach and our specialty is working with seniors on elder law issues, from powers of attorney to a state planning, to financial planning to some Medicaid guardianships. Our specialty is helping seniors and their families navigate the aging process and preparing for it. Now you can start as young as you know, in your s FIF s, to get your powers of attorney in order, but when it comes to working on the elder law matters, were experts at it right and you know I, I swear Pam. I talked to families probably several times a month, just me, and one of the I think, the biggest amounts of COM points of confusion is all the legal-schmegal stuff that has to happen. And it’s so funny because it’s like I just heard a statistic yesterday that blew my mind that they say that sixty four percent of people over the age of sixty five have not done their estate planning. Sixty four percent, which just blows me away. And just because you have a will doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have the paperwork in order. And those kind of things need to happen. And and I know that we really are wanting to be the advocates for families. That says, you know, be out here and make sure that you explore the options up front. And there’s so many situations that can happen and you know and obviously it’s so valuable and so important to make sure that those things are taken care of. So I I don’t know if you knew that little statistic. I did not know that statistic, but I do know one of the critical pieces is having your powers of attorney done. Very much so, very much so. And and different types of power of attorney, whether it’s a it’s a financial situation, if someone ever becomes the incapacitated, who could act on your behalf? And if you don’t have those, you know, things taken care of, guess what? The point? The court is going to a point somebody for you and it could take months before people, you know people can act on your behalf. So those things are so, so valuable and then the other side of it is, course, the healthcare directive, yeah, which is obviously thinking about not only the you know, healthcare power attorney, but also an advance directive, which are two different documents. Yes, they are. From what? And then, of course, the pulse form, which is another piece of that, which are so many things when when we talk to our listeners about people have no idea of what those things are. So a firm like you, you obviously you know, I’m assuming you sit down with families and you really honor the wishes of, you know, their clients. Yes, and also in a compare, excuse me, a caring and Compassionate Way, because sometimes these conversations are difficult, very much and you know, most families work well together, but there are those who struggle a little bit more with that. So sometimes we have to navigate those situations as well. And, and you know, and understanding, I was just I’ve been working with a family this last week of which you know, obviously, mother and our father is in the alignment with the children. Mother is not in alignment with the children and wanting to have, you know, a situation where they have received care. And so now it’s like, unless you’re going to go telling the daughter the real truth, unless you’re going to go after a guardianship for your parent. You don’t have implicated right. Right. You don’t have any legal ground to act because it’s mom and dad. It doesn’t matter because mom is you know, it’s going to have to be the unified force. So it’s an interesting thing how the law works and it’s honoring the wishes, number one, of the senior and what they want it and I think that’s the real critical thing. I know in my book I talk a lot about you never want a parent your parent. It’s about honoring their wishes and it’s about being that advocate for what they would want and I know that that’s something that I think we all, as elder care professionals, spend our time, you know, wanting to do, I think, for our families. So today we’re talking about aid in attendance. Yes, veterans benefits. I know we’ve kind of covered a generality. Tell me a little bit about the aid and attendance benefit itself. Pan So the veterans aid and attendants pension benefit is a specific benefit that was brought to brought to the four in one thousand nine hundred and fifty one. So it’s been with us for a long time, but it’s not always understood. So one of the things that I do when I put on a seminar is I just help people understand what it is and how one can get it. And the critical piece of it is it is basically for those veterans who have served during a time of war. They did not have to be wounded, they did not have to have you, they didn’t even have to be in country right just needed to serve during a time of war. It’s also for the veteran, their spouse or the widow of a spouse of veteran. So we are talking to Pam Nagel from Tracy Wall and Associates and also Wendy Davis from Patriots Glen Whendy. Wendy, I know you’re sitting here very patiently, so thank you so so, Pam, getting back to having to serve in time of war. How long do they have to serve? One day during time of war and then ninety consecutive days either side. That’s amazing, I know. And then they qualify and now is there a financial platform that they have to reach to owner? There actually are several. I guess you could call them platforms. Right. There are several criteria. First of all, they serve during a time of war. Second of all, this is actually for senior for veterans, espouses and widows who are now receiving assisted living services. Right, general, they have to they have to have needs. What we call in the show or what is known in the industry is a dls. Yes, so they have to have need help with activities of daily living, right, and be receiving help for that either in a skilled nursing an adult family home or, as Wendy represents, and assisted living situation or memory care. Or memory care, yes, that is true. Right. And so, in order to qualify a parent, what about home care? Does that work to it can? Okay, there are several other criteria, including income versus expenses, assets and so forth. So what I do when I put the presentation together is I go through those criteria and make clear what they are, which I’d be which I will be doing in Wendy’s community. I also send people home with a detailed hand out so that they have the information. I’ve often, after a seminar, had a child of a veteran. Right call me and say, you know, my mom or my dad showed me this information. Please help me understand how I could help my parent. And you know that’s so important because we as adult children that have parents, I think one of the biggest concerns that we all have is how do you pay for long term care? Yes, you know, what are the what are the options that we have, as you know, as an adult child to help find their you know, the right resources for that man. Having this resource is understanding. Really you know what it whether they qualify, which is an important thing. And actually, just a little number here that’s might be helpful is there are maximum benefits for those who qualify. So for a veteran and a spouse who are receiving assisted living, they could get up to two thousand, one hundred and twenty seven a month. That’s incredible and that is a tax free pension. For a veteran with no dependent they could get up to one thousand seven, hundred and ninety four a month and for a surviving spouse or widow, one hundred and fifty three dollars a month. Now that could help with those assisted living expensively. Absolutely when you think about, for example, if someone has, you know, maybe a pension from their work, they may have a social security check, they may have a little bit of an annuity coming in and they might have a sale of a house. Sometimes that will wipe them out, especially fact that when you realize seniors are living longer and so having that resource is so valuable, so valuable. So you guys are putting on a workshop? We are. Yes, Pam, we’ve asked to come to Patriots Glen so that our our residents and the neighbors, we’ve put it out to the whole area that their families or their individuals are not leaving anything on the table. I mean there’s people don’t know about this right. Several friends I’ve told about this seminar and they’re like what, my mom would qualify because my dad was in the service. Yeah, that was just such an eye opener to some people. And yet it’s such a simple thing to go through to the process with someone like Pam or just getting the information from her and running on her on your own. Well, I would. I will tell you it’s a simple thing to have somebody like Pam do it. It’s not a simple thing for somebody to do it without somebody like them. So we appreciate you guys that do those things. So we’re also doing our sister community down to Dupont is called Patriots landing and they’re doing a similar presentation with a different gentleman by the name of Aaron Steel, and he will be doing it on Tuesday the sixteen at eleven o’clock, and that’s a patriots landing. And then your event at Patriots Glen and Bellevue and it’s on Thursday at two o’clock in the afternoon. So we hope that you can join us. We are just a couple blocks north of Bellevue College on a hundred forty eight and we would love to see you. You don’t have too URSVP. Wonderful. Well, and Wendy and Pam are going to come back for the next segment and we’ll talk a little bit more about veterans benefits and about services that veterans can receive. This has been a special presentation of answers for elders with Careage. For more information for Careage go to Careage.com. That’s Careage.com.