Are You a Veteran in Need of Assistance? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Veterans deserve more than just one day of recognition. November has now been designated National Veterans and Military Families Month.

While parades and accolades can be uplifting, many veterans and their families need help and guidance in dealing with their service’s physical and emotional complications. Thanks to the aging process, these needs intensify rather than diminish as time passes.

VA Offers Help – and Sometimes Frustration

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs–generally referred to simply as the VA–offers several programs to provide benefits to qualifying veterans and their families. The VA traces its history back to a law passed by the Plymouth colonists in 1636. The law obligated the colony to provide support to disabled soldiers who had served the colony.
Nearly 400 years later, the laws are considerably more specific about the type of support the government provides and the requirements for receiving that support. Veterans who apply for financial and medical assistance often find their claims denied. It can be very frustrating for service members and their families who sacrificed their health and a good portion of their lives to serve the country and then be denied benefits.  Bassett Murray Law Group PLLC has VA-accredited attorneys who can help.

Types of Benefits Available from the VA

The VA offers a variety of benefits to veterans and their families—if they can prove that they qualify. These include:

  • VA health care
  • Home loans and housing assistance grants
  • Education benefits
  • Disability compensation
  • Home health and geriatric care
  • Pensions
  • Burial assistance
  • Compensation and health care for spouses and dependents

Each type of benefit has different eligibility requirements. Those who seek to obtain benefits sometimes have difficulty proving their eligibility, even when they qualify for a particular program. They often find it helpful to work with an experienced attorney who knows the regulations and can apply the evidence to demonstrate their eligibility.

Benefits for Elderly Veterans

Veterans with a medical condition due to their service may be eligible to receive monthly disability benefits. Veterans who already have a disability rating may be able to increase that rating, and the monthly payment, if the severity of the condition has increased since the rating was assigned. If a veteran has a 70% or more disability rating, they are eligible for free nursing home care. Also, the State of Michigan runs two Veterans Homes for the Aged, which provides a more comfortable atmosphere for some veterans and often at a lower cost.

In certain circumstances, the VA offers respite services in a nursing home or assisted living for veterans being cared for at home and home care benefits in some circumstances. In addition, the VA may cover medical services, prescription services, and durable medical equipment. 

Elderly veterans who served during a period of war or conflict and their spouses may qualify to receive special pensions and additional amounts known as Aid and Attendance benefits or Housebound benefits. These benefits provide additional resources to cover the cost of care in an assisted living or the recipient’s home.

Guidance from an Experienced Attorney Helps Veterans and Their Families

Veterans and their families deserve to receive the benefits promised by the nation they have served so faithfully. Even if the process seems difficult, these are earned benefits that should come without delay, denial, or judgment. Bassett Murray Law Group PLLC is here to help navigate that system.

If you or a loved one need assistance in claiming Veterans benefits, we invite you to contact the team at Bassett Murray Law Group for a confidential consultation to learn how we may be able to help.

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Get to know us better by scheduling an initial consultation where we can discuss your needs.

Bassett Murray Law Group, PLLC
2045 Hogback Road
​Ann Arbor, MI ​48105
Phone: 734-930-9200
Fax: 734-930-9942

Petoskey Office
By Appointment only
3319 Lakeside Dr S
Petoskey, MI 49770
Phone: 231-427-2292

    Bassett Murray Law Group, PLLC
    2045 Hogback Road
    ​Ann Arbor, MI ​48105
    Phone: 734-930-9200
    Fax: 734-930-9942