Question:

I am a District Service Officer with the VFW in Central NY. I am helping out a 60% disabled Korean War veteran whose wife is in a nursing home. He is receiving Aid and Attendance for the spouse. Medicaid is counting his VA disability compensation as house hold income. However Medicaid (county level) states that if the VA issues a letter stating that the disability compensation is for the veterans use only, then Medicaid would only count the Aid and Attendance as household income. There is precedent for this as county Medicaid tells me several veterans have already done this. Have you heard of this before? Who do I contact to have such a letter written?

Jim's Reply:

I'm not aware of any such letter, rule or regulation. Each and every system that provides any form of disability support to any citizen has its own particular set of rules regarding means testing, personal and household income. Every system I'm aware of counts all income to include all disability income, no matter the source. There are a lot of rumors that circulate in the veteran community about how protected VA disability income is and most aren't even close to true. You'll have to return to the agencies you're dealing with for any clarification but I'd bet that counting all income is legit.