Taking care of those who served

Esther Scott is worried about her brother, a Vietnam War veteran who is struggling with diabetes, as well as an undiagnosed problem with his balance and other health issues.
“He isn’t an old man by any means,” she said. “But he has a lot of things going on with his health and he doesn’t have any family around him. We’re all up here in Jersey and Pennsylvania. He’s down there in Virginia. So, I do worry about what’s going to happen in the future.”
Scott, who recently moved to Secaucus, was surprised to learn that as a veteran of a declared U.S. war, he might be eligible for a little-known and underutilized pension program for servicemen and servicewomen.
Scott is not alone.

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“The program is very well funded. But only about 15 percent of what’s allocated ever gets used.” – Eydie Shapiro
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A number of veterans and their families who attended a recent Veterans Day event in town sponsored by the Secaucus chapter of the Knights of Columbus said they were surprised to learn about the Aid and Attendance Program. Run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the program offers pension benefits to thousands of wartime vets and their widows or widowers. Like any other pension, vets who receive benefits through the Aid and Assistance Program can use the money for whatever they choose, although most use it for home health care in their latter years, according to Eydie Shapiro co-owner of Comfort Keepers, a home health care franchise with a location in Secaucus.
Comfort Keepers franchises throughout the state, including Shapiro’s location in Secaucus, are now trying to make veterans aware of this program and other benefits they can access as they age.
“The program is very well funded,” Shapiro, who led the recent Knights of Columbus presentation, noted. “But only about 15 percent of what’s allocated ever gets used, first because people don’t know about it. And then when they find out about it, the application is daunting because they ask so many questions and they require a lot of back-up supporting documentation.”
This, she said, makes older vets vulnerable to unscrupulous attorneys who will help them fill out the application – for a steep fee that can be as much as $500.
“The Veterans Administration does a good job of trying to differentiate between the various types of benefits that they provide. But Joe Q. Citizen and Sally Q. Veteran don’t always understand them,” said ex-Marine Rob Robison, a Comfort Keepers co-owner in Red Bank. “The Aid and Attendance Program is a pension, and is completely and totally unrelated to disability as a result of military service. And for that reason it gets lost. People say, ‘Oh, well, I didn’t get hurt in the war. I’m not eligible for anything.’ So there’s a serious misunderstanding of the VA benefits.”
“I know a lot of veterans who were not aware of this program and some of the other benefits they’re eligible for,” said Secaucus resident and vet Anthony Aiello, who attended the Veterans Day presentation at the Knights of Columbus.

Who’s eligible?

Not every U.S. veteran is eligible for the Aid and Attendance Program.
To be eligible, the vet must have served for at least 90 days in a declared U.S. war. Essentially, Robison and Shapiro said, that means the vet must have served in World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, or the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers very specific dates between which people must have served to be eligible.
Veterans cannot receive their pension until they are 65.
The widows and widowers of these vets are also eligible to receive a portion of their spouse’s pension benefit.
The amount of the benefit can be as much as $18,000 annually, depending on many factors. Some vets or their widows may be eligible for the program but will receive a lower pension amount.
Vets who served during peacetime are not eligible for the Aid and Attendance Program.
Estimates on how many people may be eligible for the program – in New Jersey, or even nationally – are murky at best, according to Robison.
“I have seen estimates that vary widely,” he stated. “I am not comfortable with any of the estimates. The difference in estimates may be due to the fact that a very large number of veterans have never registered with the VA.”
Next month, Shapiro will hold two additional presentations on the Aid and Attendance Program at the Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center. One program will, she said, “be geared towards our older vets who are already retired and who may be in need of home care now or in the near future. The second workshop will be geared towards younger vets so they can begin thinking about their long-term retirement needs and how this program might fit into their retirement planning.”
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.