Alaska Veterans Home in Palmer: Eligibility, Cost, Waitlist

If your veteran parent in Alaska can no longer manage safely at home, the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in Palmer is the state's only State Veterans Home.1 The Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home is one of Alaska's six state-run Pioneer Homes; the Palmer home sets aside 75 percent of its 79 beds for veterans and admits Alaskans 60 and older who have lived in the state for at least a year and need its care.2 Because the Alaska Pioneer Homes waitlist is ranked by the date a completed application arrives, a parent who joins the inactive list years before needing care keeps that early application date as long as Alaska residency is unbroken.1,2

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home Is
• What Kind of Care the Palmer Home Gives
• Who Qualifies for the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home
• What the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home Costs
• If Your Parent's Money Runs Out
• How VA Money Fits at the Palmer Home
• How to Apply and How the Waitlist Works
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home Is

A State Veterans Home is a home a state owns and runs, which VA formally recognizes and certifies and then surveys every year against VA standards, while each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules.3 Our national guide to State Veterans Homes explains how the program works in every state.

Alaska's State Veterans Home is the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home (AVPH) at 250 East Fireweed Avenue in Palmer. The home is run by Alaska Pioneer Homes, part of the State of Alaska Department of Family and Community Services. The Palmer home first opened in 1971 as the Palmer Pioneer Home and was renamed the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in 2007.2

Alaska law makes Palmer the only candidate. The only Alaska Pioneers' Home that may be maintained and operated as a Veterans' Home is the Pioneers' Home in Palmer, under Alaska Statute AS 47.55.010(a). The Division's Veterans' Addendum form adds that the Palmer home is currently the only certified State Veterans Home in Alaska and the only Alaska home where VA per diem may be paid.1 So if your parent lives in Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan, the Pioneer Home in town can still be an option, but only the Palmer home is a State Veterans Home.

At the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home, 75 percent of the 79 beds are designated for veterans and the remaining 25 percent are open to non-veterans.2

What Kind of Care the Palmer Home Gives

This is the question to settle first, because the Palmer home isn't a skilled nursing facility in the way many families picture a "veterans home." Alaska law requires the methods of operation and standards of care at the Alaska Pioneer Homes, including the Palmer veterans home, to match those the state sets for a licensed Alaska assisted living home (AS 47.55.010(d)).1 The National Association of State Veterans Homes (NASVH) directory lists all 79 beds at the Palmer home as domiciliary care beds.2

That doesn't mean the Palmer home only takes people who are still independent. The State of Alaska's Palmer page says the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home is an Eden Alternative Registered Home whose staff serve elders ranging from those who are fully independent to those with in-depth physical and memory care needs.2 The Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes gives every resident a comprehensive assessment to set one of five service levels. The Division's Level IV includes help with five or more activities of daily living, behavior management (excluding complex behaviors) and nursing services as described in AS 47.33.020, with services provided 24 hours a day.1 If your parent has complex dementia-related behaviors, ask the Palmer home directly whether its staff can meet them.

If your parent needs round-the-clock skilled nursing, call the Palmer home before you apply and describe the care your parent needs today. Our guide to assisted living versus a nursing home in Alaska walks through the difference.

Who Qualifies for the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home

Admission to every Alaska Pioneer Home, including the Palmer veterans home, runs through one waitlist with four requirements. According to the Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes, an applicant must:2

• Be an Alaskan resident under 7 AAC 74.035.
• Have lived in Alaska for at least a year, continuously and immediately before applying, and keep Alaska residency while on the waitlist, active or inactive.
• Be 60 or older.
• Need the aid, benefit or safety of a Pioneer Home because of a physical disability or other reason, as defined in AS 47.55.900. This requirement applies only to the active waitlist.

That last point is the one families miss. A healthy 60-year-old veteran can join the Alaska Pioneer Homes inactive waitlist years before needing care, because the need-for-aid requirement doesn't apply there.2 Moving out of Alaska while on the list can cost your parent that place, since the Division requires applicants to keep Alaska residency while on either waitlist.

A spouse can come too. Alaska law makes the spouse of a person eligible for the Alaska Pioneers' Home or the Alaska Veterans' Home eligible as well, under conditions the department sets, if the spouse is 60 or older and has lived in Alaska continuously for more than one year before applying (AS 47.55.020(a)).1 VA doesn't pay a State Veterans Home anything toward the care of a non-veteran, so a non-veteran spouse's stay would be paid from other sources.3

What the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home Costs

The Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes publishes one monthly rate for each of its five service levels, and the level comes from your parent's assessment, not from which Pioneer Home they live in. Here is the rate schedule the Division currently posts (its page gives no effective date):1

Numbers like these can feel like a wall, especially when your parent's needs are still changing. The steps between levels are wide: the Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes currently lists Level II at $6,292 a month and Level IV at $10,883 a month.1 At the assessment, ask which level the home expects to start your parent at and what would move them up. And if the rate outruns your parent's income, the Division has a payment assistance program, covered in the next section.

Three things change what a resident actually pays:

• Extra charges. Alaska law lets the department charge an Alaska Pioneer Homes resident reasonable fees for supplies, medication, equipment and services not included in the monthly rate (AS 47.55.030(b)).1
• Yearly adjustments. Within 90 days after each Social Security increase, the department must adjust the Alaska Pioneer Homes rates by the same percentage as the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, and may make no other changes to those rates (AS 47.55.030(g)).1 Ask the Division for the current rate before you budget.
• Your parent's income. An Alaska Pioneer Homes resident whose income is more than $300 a month must pay the excess toward the cost of care, though the department can't require more in a month than the rate plus charges, except to repay a debt the resident owes the home (AS 47.55.020(b)).1

If Your Parent's Money Runs Out

Alaska won't put your parent out for being unable to pay. Alaska law bars the department from evicting an Alaska Pioneer Homes resident whose income and assets can't cover the rate and charges, as long as the resident otherwise follows the program's rules (AS 47.55.020(b)).1

The help comes through the Alaska Pioneer Homes Payment Assistance program, which the Division says is for residents who have applied for a Medicaid waiver or another program, been denied, and can't pay the monthly fees.1 A resident whose income, assets and other resources fall short, who has no private insurance covering the cost of care and who otherwise follows the program's rules qualifies for Alaska Pioneer Homes payment assistance under AS 47.55.020(d) and (e), but must apply for other state or federal programs that could reduce it and give the department a copy of the Medicaid application under AS 47.07 and its decision letter.1

Payment assistance isn't a grant: Alaska Pioneer Homes payment assistance a resident receives is a debt to the State of Alaska (AS 47.55.020(d)).1 If your parent owns a home you or a sibling live in, talk with the Division before your parent applies for payment assistance.

For how Medicaid pays for care in Alaska, see our guides to Medicaid waivers in Alaska and Medicaid nursing home coverage in Alaska.

How VA Money Fits at the Palmer Home

VA pays State Veterans Homes in two ways, and it matters which one applies. For an eligible veteran, VA's State Veterans Home per diem goes to the state at the lesser of one-half of the daily cost of care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year.4 Because the Veterans' Addendum limits VA per diem in Alaska to the Palmer home, a veteran in any other Alaska Pioneer Home brings no VA per diem to that home.1

The second way is VA's payment-in-full rule. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA's payment to a State Veterans Home is payment in full for the nursing home care of a veteran who needs nursing home care and who needs it for a service-connected disability, is rated 70 percent or more service-connected, or has a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), and the home may not charge anyone else for the nursing home care VA paid for.4

Read that rule carefully against the Palmer home. VA's payment-in-full rule under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41 covers nursing home care, while Alaska runs the Palmer veterans home to the assisted living standard and NASVH lists its beds as domiciliary care.4,1,2 If your parent is rated 70 percent or more, has TDIU, or needs care because of a service-connected condition, bring the VA rating decision and ask the Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes in writing how VA would pay for your parent's care at the Palmer home. Don't assume the stay is free.

If your parent may qualify for a VA pension with Aid and Attendance, our guide to Aid and Attendance for assisted living in Alaska explains how that monthly VA money can help pay for assisted living.

How to Apply and How the Waitlist Works

Applying for the Alaska Pioneer Homes puts your parent on the waitlist of their choice, active or inactive. The Division describes the two waitlists this way:1

• Active waitlist: for applicants ready to move into a Pioneer Home of their choice within 30 days of receiving an admissions offer.
• Inactive waitlist: for applicants interested in moving into a Pioneer Home at some point in the future. There is no penalty for never moving to the active list.

Placement on the Alaska Pioneer Homes waitlist is chronological, set by the date the Division receives a completed application, with the oldest applications at the top. Your parent can switch between the inactive and active lists as many times as they choose with no penalty, and keeps the original application date as long as Alaska residency is unbroken.1 That is why applying early matters more than applying perfectly. Ask the Palmer home how long its list runs right now.

The Division of Alaska Pioneer Homes no longer requires annual waitlist eligibility verification letters, and you can request an application by calling the Division at 907-465-4416.1

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and applying to a veterans home in Alaska at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.