VA Aid and Attendance Calculator
Aid and Attendance is paid as the gap between a maximum yearly pension rate and your income for VA purposes — and unreimbursed medical expenses above five percent of that rate come off your income first. This estimate shows both figures, so you can see why people in assisted living qualify. Not legal advice; accredited representatives help free.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
Before anything else: this help is free
A VA-accredited Veterans Service Organization representative will help you with this claim for free. VA states it plainly: "the services an accredited VSO representative provides on your VA benefit claims are always free." Accredited attorneys and claims agents may charge fees, but only in defined circumstances and never simply for filling in an initial application.
We are a website with a calculator on it. We take no part in any claim, and there is nobody here to talk to about yours. VA's own search for an accredited representative ↗ finds someone near you whose help costs nothing.
Your situation
Figures only. No name, no address, no phone number, no Social Security number — and nothing typed here leaves your browser.
Aid and Attendance is the higher rate: needing another person's help with daily activities, being largely bed-bound, being in a nursing home because of disability, or severely limited eyesight.
Social Security, pensions, wages, interest — everything regular. We turn it into a yearly figure because VA works in years.
The assisted living bill, the in-home caregiver, the nursing home. This is the field that changes the answer, and it is the one most people never think to fill in.
Medicare Part B and Part D premiums, supplemental insurance premiums, prescriptions, medical transport — anything you paid for and were not paid back for.
Savings and investments. Not your primary home, not your car, not basic household goods.
The estimate
Maximum Annual Pension Rate for this row
$18,697
A ceiling, not a payment
Estimated pension
$1,558.08 a month
$18,697 for the year
Without counting your medical expenses
$0.00 a month
The deduction is worth $18,697 a year here
That gap is the part almost nobody explains
At $24,000 of income against a ceiling of $18,697, the arithmetic without medical expenses gives $0 a year. Counting them gives $18,697. Same income, same rate, $18,697 of difference — and the only thing that changed is that the care you are already paying for was written down.
This is why people in assisted living qualify when their gross income says they cannot, and why "I earn too much" is the wrong place to stop.
The working, line by line
Step 1 — your medical expenses, and the 5% threshold
- Care and medical costs each month
- $4,800
- Over a year
- $57,600
- Threshold VA publishes for this row (5% of the MAPR)
- $584
- Deductible medical expenses
- $57,016
Only the part above the threshold comes off your income. VA publishes the threshold figure rather than leaving it to be recalculated, because it rounds down — so this uses the published number, not our own multiplication.
Step 2 — income for VA purposes
- Household income for the year
- $24,000
- Less deductible medical expenses
- − $57,016
- Income for VA purposes
- $0
Where the deduction is larger than the income, income for VA purposes is zero and the pension is the full rate for that row. It cannot go below zero and there is no credit for the remainder.
Step 3 — the award
- Maximum Annual Pension Rate
- $18,697
- Less income for VA purposes
- − $0
- Pension for the year
- $18,697
- Paid monthly
- $1,558.08
VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and the Maximum Annual Pension Rate that fits your situation. The MAPR is a ceiling, not a payment. VA's own worked example: a surviving spouse with one dependent child who qualifies for Aid and Attendance has a MAPR of $22,304; with a yearly income of $10,000 the pension is $12,304 for the year, or $1,025.33 a month.
Step 4 — the net worth test
- Countable assets
- $60,000
- Plus income for VA purposes
- + $0
- Net worth
- $60,000
- Limit for this period
- $163,699
On these figures net worth is inside the limit. Your primary home, your car and basic household goods are not counted toward it.
Which expenses count
Unreimbursed medical expenses — the ones your insurance did not pay back — come off your income for VA purposes, but only the part above 5% of your MAPR. This is the step almost nobody explains, and it is why people already paying for care qualify when their gross income says they should not.
The rule that turns an assisted living bill into a deduction
For a care facility that is not a nursing home — an assisted living community, for example — help with daily activities counts as a medical expense even when the person giving it is not a licensed provider, so long as the resident is receiving health care or custodial care in the facility AND either needs Aid and Attendance or is housebound, or a physician, physician assistant, certified nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist has stated in writing that they need to be in a protected environment. The facility's charges for meals and lodging count too, if the facility provides or contracts for that care, or a clinician has stated in writing that the person must live there to receive it. In practice this is what turns most of an assisted living bill into a deduction.
38 CFR 3.278 — Deductible medical expenses ↗ is the regulation itself. Take it to whoever helps you with the claim — the wording of that section is what a facility's statement has to line up with.
The look-back, and the people who exploit it
VA looks back 3 years at assets transferred for less than fair value, and a transfer found there can create a penalty period of up to 5 years during which no pension is payable. The penalty is worked out using a monthly divisor of $2,874. The look-back never reaches before 2018-10-18.
This is the hook for a whole industry. Anyone who offers to restructure your assets into a trust or an annuity so that you qualify is selling you a product, and the transfer they arrange is the exact thing the look-back is designed to catch.
The Medicaid look-back is a different length with different rules, and the two get confused constantly. Ours is explained on the Medicaid look-back page.
What VA says, stored with the figures
- Anyone who offers to prepare or file your pension or Aid and Attendance claim for a fee, a percentage of your back pay, or a "consulting" charge is a red flag. So is anyone who ties claim help to buying an annuity, a trust, or an insurance product to "restructure" your assets. Under 38 CFR 14.636 only VA-accredited representatives may assist with claims, and moving assets to qualify can trigger the three-year look-back and a penalty period of up to five years.
- Find an accredited representative through VA's own search tool at va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative. You appoint a VSO with VA Form 21-22, or an attorney or claims agent with VA Form 21-22a.
- The MAPR is a ceiling, not a check. VA pays the gap between your income for VA purposes and the MAPR, so nobody receives the headline figure unless their countable income is zero.
- Rates run from December 1 to November 30, not on the calendar year. These took effect on December 1, 2025 with a 2.8% cost-of-living increase and are payable through November 30, 2026.
- Aid and Attendance and Housebound cannot be paid at the same time. Aid and Attendance is the higher rate and covers needing another person's help with daily activities, being largely bed-bound, being in a nursing home because of disability, or severely limited eyesight. Housebound covers spending most of your time at home because of a permanent disability.
- The net worth limit counts your assets and your income for VA purposes added together. It does not count your primary residence, your car, or basic household items. If you had $121,000 in assets and $14,000 in annual income, your net worth would be $135,000, which is under the limit.
- This is an estimate and an explanation, not a decision. Only VA can decide a pension claim. Check the current figures at va.gov before you rely on them, and take any real question to an accredited representative rather than to a website.
Rates took effect on 2025-12-01 with a 2.8% cost-of-living increase. VA's own Aid and Attendance page ↗ is where to check them before relying on anything here.
Who to ask about a VA pension claim
An accredited Veterans Service Organization representative is the right first call and charges nothing. We are not a party to any claim and cannot look one up.
- Eldercare Locator — 1-800-677-1116 ↗Free
Run by the federal Administration for Community Living. Give them a ZIP code and they connect you to the area agency on aging that covers it, which is the office that knows what exists locally.
- Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program ↗Free
One-to-one counseling on Medicare, Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help, from someone paid by a federal grant rather than by commission. The local name differs by state — HICAP in California, SHINE in Florida, SHIBA in Washington.
- Medicaid.gov — eligibility policy ↗Free
The federal rules Medicaid long-term care sits inside. Your own state agency administers them and is the only body that can decide your case.
- VA — find an accredited representative ↗Free
VA's own search for accredited Veterans Service Organization representatives, attorneys and claims agents. VSO representatives help with pension and Aid and Attendance claims at no charge.
- National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys ↗Directory is free; the attorney is not
Where to find a lawyer who does this work full time, if a transfer, a trust, a house or a second marriage is involved. Attorneys charge; asking one before you move money is usually cheaper than asking one afterwards.
Our own who to ask page sorts these by situation, and the paying for care hub holds the rest of this wing.
Verified 2026-08-02 against VA current pension rates for Veterans (effective December 1, 2025), with Survivors Pension rates from va.gov and the medical-expense deduction rule from 38 CFR 3.278 (effective 2025-12-01)
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only VA can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: VA — Veterans Pension rates, effective December 1, 2025 ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
Estimates a VA pension with Aid and Attendance by working the arithmetic VA actually uses: the maximum annual pension rate for your situation, less your income for VA purposes — which is itself reduced by the medical expenses you were never paid back for.
How it works
It takes the published rate for the row that matches your household and care needs, subtracts the medical expenses above the five percent threshold VA prints for that row, subtracts the remaining income from the rate, and divides by twelve. The threshold is the published figure rather than a recalculated one, because VA rounds it down. The net worth test is applied separately, as VA applies it.
Getting the most from it
- Choose who the pension is for and which published row matches — the wording of each row is VA's own.
- Enter household income for a month. Everything regular counts: benefits, pensions, wages, interest.
- Enter what you pay for care each month. This is the field that changes the answer and the one most people never think to fill in.
- Add other unreimbursed medical costs: Medicare premiums, supplemental premiums, prescriptions, medical transport.
- Compare the two results — with the medical deduction and without it. The gap is the mechanism.
Reading your result
The maximum annual pension rate is a ceiling, never a payment. The estimate beside it is what the arithmetic produces from your figures, and the third number shows what the same income would produce if the medical expenses were ignored. Where the two differ, the difference is the deduction doing its work, and it is the reason gross income is the wrong figure to judge yourself by.
What it can't tell you
This is an estimate and not a decision. It cannot tell you whether the service requirement is met, whether a facility statement will be accepted as evidence, or how VA will treat a particular expense. It assumes the row you picked is the right one. Only VA can decide a claim, an accredited representative helps with one at no charge, and nothing on this page is legal advice or an offer of help with a claim.
Frequently asked questions
It is not a fixed amount. VA pays the difference between the maximum annual pension rate for your situation and your income for VA purposes, so the published rate is a ceiling rather than a payment. Somebody with no countable income receives the whole rate; somebody with income receives the gap, and nothing if the gap closes.
Related calculators
Funding Screener
Seven questions, none of them about who you are, and the answer is a list of offices rather than a verdict: Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid long-term care, VA pension, your free state counselors, the area agency on aging, and an elder-law attorney if property is involved. Each one names who decides and what to bring. Estimate only, never a determination.
Care Costs
What in-home care, adult day programs, assisted living and nursing homes cost in your state, converted to monthly and yearly figures from the hours you actually expect to use. The survey publishes each kind of care in a different unit, so the arithmetic that makes them comparable is ours, and it is printed beside every number. Estimate only.
Look-Back
Medicaid examines a five-year window before an application, looking for gifts and property transfers, and one found there creates a penalty period that starts only once the money has already run out. Here is how that works, how fast a spend-down happens, and a printable worksheet. Not legal advice — your state agency decides.
Savings Programs
Four programs pay the Medicare premiums of people with limited income, and a fifth pays most drug costs. Answer two questions to see where your figures sit against the federal limits for QMB, SLMB, QI and QDWI, plus Part D Extra Help. Those federal numbers are a floor many states exceed, so this is an estimate, never a decision.
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