Georgia State Veterans Homes: Cost, Who Qualifies, How to Apply

At a Georgia state veterans home, VA pays the full nursing home bill for a veteran who needs that care and is rated 70% or more, has a TDIU rating, or needs it for a service-connected disability.1 Georgia has two state veterans homes, in Milledgeville and Augusta, and families apply through either home's admissions office or any Georgia Department of Veterans Service (GDVS) field service office.2

If a hospital discharge planner or a VA social worker has just suggested "the veterans home" for your mom or dad, you're probably weighing two worries at once: whether they'll be safe there, and what it will cost your family. Georgia's cost rules sit in a state regulation most families never see: the Daily Fee formula in Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 690-1 works out to about $31.92 a day at 2026 VA pension rates for a veteran whose care VA does not pay in full.3

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a State Veterans Home Is
• Georgia's Two State Veterans Homes
• Who Can Get Into a Georgia State Veterans Home?
• What Does a Georgia State Veterans Home Cost?
• When VA Pays the Whole Bill
• If the Fee Is Hard to Pay
• How to Apply, Step by Step
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What a State Veterans Home Is

Before you call anyone, it helps to know who actually runs the building. State Veterans Homes are owned, operated and managed by state governments, not by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA formally recognizes each home, surveys it every year, and can pay the state toward a veteran's care, but each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules, the cost to the resident varies by state, and VA does not pay for the care of non-veterans.5

In Georgia, admissions run through the Georgia Department of Veterans Service (GDVS), and a GDVS rule sets what residents pay.2,4 For the full picture of VA help for an aging veteran in Georgia, including home care and the VA's own nursing homes, see our guide to VA senior care benefits in Georgia. For how state homes work across the country, see how State Veterans Homes work.

Georgia's Two State Veterans Homes

The two Georgia homes aren't described the same way, and the difference matters most if your parent has dementia. GDVS says the Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville is a 248-bed skilled nursing facility of four buildings that provides specialty care for Alzheimer's residents, along with sub-acute rehabilitation and transitional support units. GDVS also says service-connected disabled veterans can get comprehensive mental and behavioral health therapies and services while living at the Milledgeville home.2

The addresses and admissions lines above are the ones GDVS lists for each home's Admissions Director on its Eligibility Criteria page.2 If you're choosing between the two, the admissions office at each home is the right place to ask about current openings and whether its care fits your parent's needs.

Who Can Get Into a Georgia State Veterans Home?

This is the question most families arrive with, and the honest answer is that Georgia writes its own rules. VA leaves eligibility and admission criteria for each State Veterans Home to the state, and VA says eligibility is based on clinical need and setting availability.5 GDVS publishes Georgia's admission criteria on its Eligibility Criteria page, and either home's admissions office can walk you through them for your parent's service record and health.

Two parts of admission come from Georgia's fee regulation and catch families off guard. Under Georgia's rule on the daily fee, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 690-1, the veteran or family must sign a financial agreement at admission, and not signing it stops the admission process for a new applicant. The same Georgia rule makes an appointment to file for VA Aid and Attendance mandatory for new residents or their family, before or at admission or within the first two weeks.4

What Does a Georgia State Veterans Home Cost?

GDVS's own page says "a nominal daily fee is charged" and gives no dollar amount.3 The details are in Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 690-1, and they're worth knowing before you sign anything. Under 690-1, Georgia's Daily Fee is not a set price. Georgia's Daily Fee equals the monthly VA pension with Aid and Attendance for a single veteran with no income, minus the monthly basic VA pension for a single veteran with no income, times 12, divided by 365.4

How Georgia bills that fee matters for your budget. Under 690-1, the monthly bill is the Daily Fee times every day your parent lived in the home that month, including days away in the hospital or on leave, because the bed is held for them. At a Georgia state veterans home, a new resident pays the Daily Fee in advance for the rest of the admission month, and each monthly Daily Fee invoice is due within 10 days.4

Two more lines in Georgia's rule surprise families. Georgia's state veterans homes do not accept payments from Medicaid or Medicare, because they are not participants in those programs. Georgia's 690-1 also names "the veteran patients and their immediate family members (responsible parties)" as responsible for paying the Daily Fees.4 Read the financial agreement carefully, and ask the admissions office what signing it commits you to personally.

When VA Pays the Whole Bill

For some veterans, the family owes nothing for the nursing home care at all. Under federal law, 38 U.S.C. 1745, VA's payment to a State home for nursing home care is payment in full for a veteran who needs that care and either needs it for a service-connected disability or has a service-connected disability rated at 70% or more, and VA's regulation at 38 CFR 51.41 also lists a veteran rated for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care. Under a State home care agreement, the home may not charge anyone other than VA for the nursing home care VA pays for.1

Georgia's rule and GDVS's page line up with this. Georgia's 690-1 says a veteran rated 70% service-connected or higher can't be charged the Daily Fee because VA's per diem payment for that veteran's care is payment in full, and GDVS says the daily fee is paid in full by VA for a veteran rated 70% or higher or whose admission is due to a service-connected condition.4 If your parent is rated TDIU but below 70%, bring up 38 CFR 51.41 with the admissions office, since the federal regulation names TDIU while Georgia's rule and GDVS's page speak of 70% ratings and service-connected admissions.1

For other eligible veterans, VA pays the state a basic per diem toward care, capped at the lesser of half the daily cost of care or VA's basic rate.1 That payment goes to the state, not to your family, which is why Georgia charges its Daily Fee on top.

If the Fee Is Hard to Pay

If you're already doing the math and feeling your stomach drop, you're not alone, and Georgia's rule has two pressure valves.

The first is VA Aid and Attendance. Aid and Attendance is an increased monthly payment added to a VA Veterans Pension, so a veteran must first qualify for the pension, which has its own wartime-service, discharge, income and net-worth tests.6 Under Georgia's 690-1, depending on VA's rules and approval, Aid and Attendance payments may reimburse all or part of the fees paid to the home, but a pending Aid and Attendance claim, or not qualifying for a cash payment, is no reason to delay or skip the monthly fee.4 Our Georgia Aid and Attendance guide and our guide to using Aid and Attendance toward a Georgia nursing home walk through the claim.

The second is a hardship waiver. Under Georgia's 690-1, a resident can ask for a full or partial waiver of the Daily Fee only if the family's annual income (the veteran, a spouse and any children under 18) is at or below the federal Poverty Guidelines and the veteran has applied for Aid and Attendance. The Georgia veterans home's Executive Director decides a Daily Fee waiver request in writing no earlier than 15 days and no later than 60 days after receiving it. A denied Georgia Daily Fee waiver can be appealed to Georgia's Commissioner of Veterans Service within 30 days by regular mail or courier, and a denied appeal can go on to the Georgia Office of State Administrative Hearings.4

Please don't let a bill quietly go unpaid while you sort this out. Under Georgia's 690-1, after two delinquent payment notices the home issues a permanent discharge notice, which takes effect 30 days after the notice.4 Call the home as soon as you see trouble coming, and ask about a waiver early.

How to Apply, Step by Step

Learn More

Find personalized help getting a veteran parent into a Georgia state veterans home 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.