VA Aid and Attendance for Nursing Home Care in Arkansas

VA Aid and Attendance can put up to $29,093 a year toward a nursing home in Arkansas for a qualifying wartime veteran. The maximum for a surviving spouse is $18,697 a year.1 That is substantial relief in a state where nursing home costs are among the more affordable in the country.2

This guide explains how much a nursing home costs in Arkansas, how Aid and Attendance helps pay for it, the $90-a-month cap that applies to a single veteran once Medicaid takes over, the state's own veterans nursing homes, and how to apply with free help.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• How Much a Nursing Home Costs in Arkansas
• How Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for It
• How Nursing Home Costs Lower Your Countable Income
• Who Qualifies
• The Nursing-Home Pension Cap
• Arkansas State Veterans Homes
• How Aid and Attendance Works with Arkansas Medicaid
• How to Apply and Get Free Help
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

How Much a Nursing Home Costs in Arkansas

According to the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, the most recent state-level data (released March 2026), a semi-private room in an Arkansas nursing home costs about $89,425 a year. A private room runs about $96,725 a year. Both figures sit well below the national medians of about $114,975 for a semi-private room and $129,575 for a private room, making Arkansas one of the more affordable states for nursing home care.2

These are industry-survey medians, not government figures. Costs vary within the state and rise as care needs grow.2

How Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for It

VA Aid and Attendance is an increase added to a qualifying veteran's or survivor's basic VA pension when the person needs help with daily activities, is bedridden, lives in a nursing home due to the loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability, or has severely limited eyesight.6 For a veteran on VA pension it is not a separate program but a higher pension rate. This guide covers that pension route; Aid and Attendance can also be added to monthly compensation.7

For 2026, the maximum rates are:1

VA publishes these as annual rates, but pension is paid monthly: under 38 CFR 3.273, the monthly payment is the applicable maximum rate minus your countable income, divided by 12 and rounded down to the whole dollar. The Maximum Annual Pension Rate is the maximum amount of pension payable, and VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and that limit, so it is a ceiling rather than a check anyone is guaranteed.1

Against an Arkansas semi-private nursing home room at about $89,425 a year, the maximum single-veteran rate of $29,093 would cover about a third of the annual bill, for a veteran whose award reaches that ceiling.1,2

How Nursing Home Costs Lower Your Countable Income

VA pension, including its Aid and Attendance increase, is a needs-based benefit. To be eligible, a veteran's yearly family income and net worth must meet limits set by Congress. Because the benefit is keyed to income for VA purposes, large recurring care expenses can help a veteran qualify even when their income appears too high at first glance.1

Here is how it works: only the portion of unreimbursed medical expenses (UMEs) that exceeds 5 percent of the applicable Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) is deductible.1

• $872 is the floor the VA publishes for a veteran with no spouse or child: you may deduct only the amount above 5% of your MAPR amount1
• The floor rises with dependents, but it never reflects the aid and attendance or housebound increase1

Example: a single veteran has $18,000 in annual income and pays $89,425 a year for an Arkansas nursing home. After subtracting the $872 floor, roughly $88,553 of that bill becomes deductible. That leaves the income the VA counts far inside the limits, which is how a large nursing home bill can turn a seemingly ineligible veteran into an eligible one.1,2

Under 38 CFR 3.278, the medical expenses you can count also include payments for health, medical, hospitalization, and long-term care insurance premiums, including premiums for Medicare Parts A, B, and D.1

Who Qualifies

To receive VA Aid and Attendance, a veteran must meet all of the following:6

1. Wartime service, with no dishonorable discharge: if active duty started before September 8, 1980, at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a recognized wartime period (World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War/post-9/11); those who started active duty as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally need at least 24 months, or the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty, with at least one day during wartime; the same 24-month rule applies to an officer who started on active duty after October 16, 1981 and had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months.
2. Age or status (any one of four): at least 65 years old; OR a permanent and total disability; OR a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability; OR getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. Any single one of these satisfies the test, so a wartime veteran under 65 who is in a nursing home for long-term care, or who receives SSDI or SSI, qualifies on this point without a permanent-and-total rating.
3. Net worth under $163,699 (for 2026): VA's net-worth calculation combines the claimant's and their dependents' assets and annual income, and a married veteran's net worth includes the spouse's net worth. What doesn't count: your primary residence, one personal vehicle, and basic household goods like appliances you wouldn't take with you if you moved. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit. Comparing assets alone against the limit gives the wrong answer.6
4. Need for aid and attendance: requires help with daily activities (bathing, dressing, feeding), is bedridden, is a patient in a nursing home due to the loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability, or has severely limited vision.

The VA also applies a 36-month look-back on asset transfers for less than fair market value. Transfers made on or after October 18, 2018 can trigger a penalty period of up to five years.6,1

Surviving spouses of qualifying wartime veterans may be eligible for the Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance at up to $18,697 a year.1

The $90/Month Nursing-Home Pension Cap

This is one of the most important planning facts for families weighing both VA pension and Medicaid.

When a single veteran with neither a spouse nor a child (or a surviving spouse with no child) is covered by a Medicaid plan for nursing-facility care, federal law generally limits VA pension, including the Aid and Attendance amount, to no more than $90 per month for any period after the month of admission to the nursing facility (38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(2)). VA's implementing regulation, 38 CFR 3.551(i), instead ties the cap to the month Medicaid payments begin, so if Medicaid approval comes months after admission, confirm with VA which month your reduction actually starts.3 Federal law also bars the facility's Medicaid payment from being reduced by the $90 the veteran is permitted to keep (38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(3)).3 VA tells beneficiaries the facility can't count that payment as income toward the cost of care and that they would keep the full $90 for personal expenses.8 That federal rule caps the pension; it does not decide how the $90 relates to a state's Medicaid personal needs allowance, and states differ on whether the two stack.3 In Arkansas they do not. The DHS Medical Services Policy Manual (section H-410) gives most nursing facility residents a $40 personal needs allowance, but a single veteran, or a veteran's spouse, with no dependents whose VA pension has been reduced to $90 gets the full $90 as the personal needs allowance, and no additional $40.5

What this means practically: if a single veteran with no spouse or child enters a nursing home that Arkansas Medicaid is already paying for, the VA pension does not continue at the full Aid and Attendance rate. Families who plan to use Aid and Attendance to help pay for a nursing home before Medicaid coverage begins should coordinate both applications carefully before the veteran enters a Medicaid-funded facility. An accredited VA representative or elder law attorney can help map out the timing to preserve as much benefit as possible.8

Arkansas State Veterans Homes

Besides private nursing facilities, Arkansas operates its own skilled-nursing homes for veterans. The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) runs two state veterans homes: the Arkansas State Veterans Home at North Little Rock (2401 John Ashley Drive) and the Arkansas State Veterans Home at Fayetteville (1179 North College Avenue).4 The services ADVA lists for the homes include RN, LPN, and CNA skilled care around the clock, an on-site medical director, hospice care, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, daily activities coordinated by a certified activities director, and a licensed clinical social worker.4

Veterans, veterans' spouses, and Gold Star parents may apply for admission. ADVA's criteria for admission are an honorable discharge and a medical need for nursing home placement.4

Because these homes are state-operated rather than private, admission runs through ADVA, and the way care is funded can differ from a private facility. That difference reaches the $90 cap described above. For purposes of 38 U.S.C. 5503(d), a "nursing facility" is defined at 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(1)(B) as a facility described in section 1919 of the Social Security Act other than "a facility that is a State home with respect to which the Secretary makes per diem payments for nursing home care pursuant to section 1741(a) of this title".8 So a Medicaid-covered stay in an Arkansas state veterans home should be checked against that definition rather than assumed to fall under the $90 rule.3 Where VA does pay the home that per diem, a separate federal Medicaid rule applies to a veteran with no spouse or child: pension above $90 a month, including Aid and Attendance, is counted as income only to apply that excess to the home's cost of nursing care (42 U.S.C. 1396a(r)(1)(B)).8 Whether a given Arkansas home receives that per diem, and how Arkansas applies its own Aid and Attendance exclusion (below) alongside this rule, are questions to put to the home and to the Arkansas Department of Human Services before counting on what the resident will actually keep.5 Contact ADVA directly to confirm current availability, admission steps, and how a specific veteran's benefits would be applied.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Arkansas Medicaid

VA Aid and Attendance and Arkansas Medicaid are separate programs that can interact when a veteran needs long-term care. The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), through its Division of Medical Services, administers Arkansas Medicaid and its long-term services and supports (LTSS). Arkansas is an income-cap state for long-term-care Medicaid, meaning applicants over the income limit may still qualify by establishing a Qualified Income Trust (Miller Trust).5

Under the general federal rule for Supplemental Security Income (SSI)-related Medicaid, the basic VA pension counts as income for Medicaid eligibility. The Aid and Attendance and housebound portions paid to cover the cost of care are generally treated as unreimbursed-medical-expense income that is excluded from countable income. That exclusion is a Medicaid rule rather than a VA one. The federal post-eligibility rule for nursing facility residents, 42 CFR 435.725, starts from the position that income disregarded in determining eligibility must be considered when the agency works out what the resident pays toward care, but a state's own post-eligibility rules can exempt the Aid and Attendance portion.8 Arkansas's do. Its Medical Services Policy Manual excludes full-rate VA Aid and Attendance payments both at initial eligibility and as income applied to the vendor payment in a nursing facility (section E-451), and the H-410 cost-of-care computation says VA Aid and Attendance and VA unreimbursed medical expense payments will not be counted as income. So in Arkansas, an Aid and Attendance amount still paid at the full rate, for example to a veteran who has a spouse or a child, is not applied to the nursing facility's cost of care.5 Otherwise, H-410 requires nursing facility residents to contribute all of their monthly income, minus certain approved deductions, to the cost of their care.5 The deductions the federal rule requires include "Amounts for incurred expenses for medical or remedial care that are not subject to payment by a third party," while the category covering care recognized under State law but not covered by the state plan is "subject to reasonable limits the agency may establish."8 The capped $90 described above also cannot be applied to the cost of care.3 These rules cover nursing facility residents, not home and community-based waiver services, so a household using a waiver should confirm its share of cost with Arkansas DHS, and any veteran should confirm how their specific VA benefit is counted with DHS or an accredited VSO before applying.5

To start a long-term-care Medicaid application in Arkansas, read the DHS Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Medicaid page at humanservices.arkansas.gov, then apply through your local DHS county office or an accredited Veterans Service Officer who can help coordinate both benefits.5

How to Apply and Get Free Help

The steps below are the pension route. VA's condition for this benefit is that "You may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension." VA Form 21-2680 also covers Aid and Attendance that will be added to monthly compensation, so a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than pension should not file the pension application below.7

To apply for Aid and Attendance through the pension route, you will need:7

• VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File), first, if you are still gathering information. VA says "Submitting an intent to file can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive."
• VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), with the examination information section completed by a medical examiner documenting the need for assistance.
• VA Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), for a wartime veteran pursuing the pension route who is not already receiving VA pension.
• VA Form 21-0779 (Request for Nursing Home Information in Connection with Claim for Aid and Attendance), which will also need to be filled out for a nursing-home claim.

Forms can be submitted online at VA.gov, mailed to the VA Pension Intake Center, or filed in person at a VA regional office, and an accredited attorney, accredited claims agent, or accredited Veterans Service Organization representative can help you file the claim.7

Free help in Arkansas: The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) and its network of district and county Veterans Service Officers (VSOs) assist veterans and their families in applying for federal and state benefits, including managing pension claims.9 Arkansas VSOs are employed by ADVA and must be accredited through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the VA says the services an accredited VSO representative provides on a benefit claim are always free.9 Visit veterans.arkansas.gov to find your nearest county service officer.

You never have to pay a service officer to file a VA claim. Note the difference, though: an accredited VSO representative's services on a VA benefit claim are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge fees.9

Compare Care Settings in Arkansas

Aid and Attendance can help pay for any care setting. See how it works for the others:

• How Aid and Attendance Pays for Assisted Living in Arkansas
• How Aid and Attendance Pays for In-Home Care in Arkansas
• How Aid and Attendance Pays for Memory Care in Arkansas

Learn More

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.