VA Aid and Attendance in Illinois is the federal VA pension paid at a higher maximum rate when a wartime veteran needs regular help with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing, or eating. For a veteran with a spouse, that maximum is $2,874 a month ($34,488 a year) in 2026. It's one of the most underused VA benefits, and many Illinois veterans and surviving spouses who qualify never apply because they don't know it exists.

This guide walks through who qualifies, how much you can receive, how to apply, and where to get free help filing in Illinois, starting with the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs.

In This Guide

What Is Aid and Attendance?

Aid and Attendance (A&A) is an enhanced VA pension benefit for wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who need help with everyday activities. It isn't a separate program. It's the same VA pension paid at a higher maximum rate when you need regular care, so the Aid and Attendance figure marks the top of the whole pension, not an extra layer added onto the basic rate.

You may qualify if you need help with daily activities such as:

  • Bathing or showering
  • Dressing and undressing
  • Eating or preparing meals
  • Using the toilet
  • Adjusting prosthetic devices
  • Protecting yourself from everyday hazards

You can also qualify if you're bedridden, spend a large part of the day in bed because of illness, live in a nursing home due to mental or physical incapacity, or have severely limited eyesight (5/200 or less in both eyes).

A&A is tax-free, and the money can go toward any purpose, including in-home care, assisted living, or nursing home costs. That flexibility is part of what makes it so useful for Illinois families piecing together long-term care.

Do You Qualify?

To receive Aid and Attendance, you have to meet all four of these requirements.

1. Wartime service, and a discharge that isn't dishonorable. How much service the veteran needs depends on when they entered, and any one of three branches satisfies the test. A veteran who started active duty before September 8, 1980 needs at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a recognized wartime period (World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, or the Gulf War). A veteran who started active duty as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally needs 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. An officer who started active duty after October 16, 1981 qualifies on service if they had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months.

2. Age, disability, or care status. The veteran must meet at least one of four conditions, not just the first two: be at least 65 years old; have a permanent and total disability; be a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability; or be getting Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The nursing-home and SSDI/SSI branches stand on their own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI meets this requirement without any permanent-and-total rating.

3. Need for assistance. The veteran or surviving spouse must need regular help with daily activities, be bedridden, be in a nursing home, or have severely limited eyesight as described above.

4. Net worth under $163,699. This is the 2026 limit. VA's calculation counts your and your dependents' assets plus your annual income combined. Your primary residence doesn't count, and VA recognizes one primary residence per claimant. Neither do personal effects suitable to and consistent with a reasonable mode of life, which the regulation illustrates as appliances and family transportation vehicles, so the test is what fits a reasonable mode of life rather than a count of vehicles.

Surviving spouses qualify too. If the veteran has passed away and the surviving spouse needs help with daily activities, they can apply for the Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance, worth up to $1,558 a month in 2026.

2026 VA Aid and Attendance Rates in Illinois

The VA calculates your payment as the difference between your countable income and the Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) for your category. If your income is low enough, you receive the full amount. These rates are federal, so they're the same in Illinois as anywhere else. The VA publishes the MAPR as an annual amount; the monthly column below is that yearly figure divided by 12.

Category Annual Rate Monthly Rate
Veteran, no dependents $29,093 $2,424
Veteran with spouse $34,488 $2,874
Two veterans married to each other (both A&A) $46,143 $3,845
Surviving spouse $18,697 $1,558
Veteran, no dependents (Housebound) $21,313 $1,776
Veteran, no dependents (basic pension) $17,441 $1,453
Each additional dependent +$2,984 +$248

Here's how the math works. If a veteran with a spouse has $12,000 in annual countable income and qualifies for A&A, the VA pays the difference: $34,488 minus $12,000 leaves $22,488 a year, or about $1,874 a month. Out-of-pocket medical expenses, including what you pay for care, reduce your countable income, which raises your benefit.

The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Lookback

The 2026 net worth limit is $163,699. This combines your and your dependents' assets (savings, investments, and property other than your home) with your annual income.

What counts: bank accounts, stocks, bonds, investment property, IRAs, and other financial assets, plus your annual income.

What doesn't count: your primary residence, which VA counts as one per claimant, plus personal effects suitable to and consistent with a reasonable mode of life, which the regulation illustrates as appliances and family transportation vehicles. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit, which matters for the many Illinois veterans who own their homes outright but live on a modest fixed income.

That house may be worth something on the tax side, too. Illinois reduces the property tax owed on the primary residence of a veteran with a service-connected disability rating, on a track entirely separate from the VA pension you are applying for here, and our guide to the Illinois disabled veteran property tax exemption covers who can claim it and how to file.

The 3-Year Lookback Rule

The VA reviews any assets you transferred for less than fair market value in the three years before you file your claim. If you gave away or sold assets below market value to get under the net worth limit, the VA may impose a penalty period of up to five years during which you won't receive pension benefits.

This rule exists to stop people from simply giving away savings to qualify. If you're thinking about transferring assets, talk to a VA-accredited attorney or an elder law attorney first. The penalty can be steep, so it's worth getting advice before you move money.

How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Illinois

The steps below describe the pension route, the one VA sums up as "You may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension." VA Form 21-2680 covers two routes, because it applies for Aid and Attendance "that will be added to your monthly compensation or pension benefits," so a veteran seeking the increase on VA disability compensation rather than on a pension still files that form; only the pension route adds the wartime pension application in step 3.

1
Step 1

File an Intent to File if you're still gathering paperwork

A claimant who isn't ready to file the full claim can submit VA Form 21-0966 first. VA says "Submitting an intent to file can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive." After you file the intent, you have one year to complete and file the claim itself.

2
Step 2

Get a medical examination

A medical examiner fills out the examination information section of VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), documenting which daily activities you need help with and why. Be thorough. The more detail about specific limitations, the stronger the claim.

3
Step 3

Complete the pension application

A wartime veteran taking the pension route who isn't already receiving VA pension also submits VA Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), the means-tested wartime pension claim, which covers service history, income, net worth, and medical conditions.

4
Step 4

Submit everything

You can file online at VA.gov, mail the forms to the VA Pension Intake Center, or apply in person at a VA regional office; an accredited representative such as an Illinois Veteran Service Officer can also file for you. Filing online lets you save your progress and track the claim.

5
Step 5

Wait for a decision

Asked how long a decision takes, the VA answers "It depends." It processes claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing. A complete application with strong medical documentation gives the VA less to go back for. Incomplete submissions are the most common reason for delays.

Waiting on a decision is hard when a parent needs care now, but the care itself doesn't have to wait for the award. Many families begin in-home help, assisted living, or a move into one of the Illinois Veterans' Homes while the claim is pending, then use the benefit to offset those costs once it's approved.

Documents to Gather First

  • DD-214 (discharge papers) showing wartime service dates
  • Medical records documenting the need for daily help
  • Income documentation (Social Security and pension statements)
  • Asset information (bank and investment statements)
  • Marriage certificate, if claiming as a veteran with a spouse
  • Death certificate, if applying as a surviving spouse

Free Help in Illinois: IDVA and County VACs

You don't have to file this claim alone. Free, accredited help is available across Illinois.

The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs (IDVA)

The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, known as IDVA, is the state agency that connects veterans and their families to the federal, state, and local benefits they earned. IDVA's Veteran Service Officers (VSOs) are fellow veterans, trained and accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and they provide free assistance to veterans and their dependents and survivors, both applying for federal and state benefits and providing resources on compensation and pension. Aid and Attendance is paid as part of the VA pension rather than as a separate benefit, so an A&A claim sits inside that pension category. IDVA operates full-time and part-time (itinerant) Veteran Service Offices across the state, and you can locate the nearest one using IDVA's online VSO locator. If you'd rather pick up the phone, IDVA's main line is 217-782-6641 (toll-free 800-437-9824, TTY 844-760-8103), and its Springfield headquarters is at 833 South Spring Street, Springfield, IL 62704.

IDVA also runs five state-operated Illinois Veterans' Homes, in Anna, Chicago, LaSalle, Manteno, and Quincy. The Chicago home is the newest: it welcomed its first residents in January 2022, offers 200 private rooms with baths, and accommodates veterans seeking skilled nursing and memory care. The homes offer affordable long-term care to aged and disabled veterans, with services ranging from an independent domiciliary living program with minimal support (offered at the Anna and Quincy homes) to around-the-clock skilled nursing care in all five locations for veterans with significant clinical needs; the Anna and Quincy homes also offer care to qualifying spouses. For a veteran weighing assisted living or nursing care, an A&A award can help cover costs whether they stay at home or move into one of these homes.

County Veterans Assistance Commissions

Alongside IDVA's own offices, some Illinois counties have a county-level Veterans Assistance Commission (VAC) that works with veterans locally. What a VAC offers varies by county, so ask your county government, or an IDVA Veteran Service Officer, what is available where you live.

A word of caution: be wary of companies that charge fees to help with VA claims. The services an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative provides on a VA benefit claim are always free, whether that is an IDVA Veteran Service Officer or a representative of an organization like the VFW, American Legion, or DAV. Only accredited claims agents and attorneys may charge you a fee at all, and only for representation provided after the VA has issued notice of its initial decision on the claim (38 CFR 14.636), so no one should charge you to prepare and file the initial pension application.

Illinois's Veteran Population

Illinois is home to hundreds of thousands of veterans. The VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics counted 603,979 veterans in Illinois for 2024, while the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs reports 480,513 veterans in the state for FY26. With that many veterans, demand on service offices is real, so it's worth contacting one early rather than waiting until a care crisis forces the issue.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Illinois Medicaid

Aid and Attendance and Illinois Medicaid are run separately, by different agencies and under different rules. A veteran can receive both at the same time, but the two count money differently, so a few points are worth understanding.

  • Different agencies run each program. Illinois Medicaid is administered by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), and the Illinois Department of Human Services determines Medicaid eligibility, while the federal VA decides your A&A claim.
  • The two programs cover different things. A&A can pay for costs Medicaid often doesn't, such as room and board in assisted living, while Medicaid may cover the care services themselves and long-term nursing care.
  • VA pension income affects what you owe toward care. For an Illinois nursing-home resident, Medicaid uses a patient-liability (applied-income) model: once you qualify, essentially all of your monthly income goes toward the cost of care, except for a personal needs allowance (set at $60 per month for skilled nursing facility residents), Medicare premiums, and any protected allowance for a community spouse.
  • How A&A counts can be situation-specific. As a general federal rule, VA pension income is generally counted as income for Medicaid, but the portion of a VA pension that consists of Aid and Attendance paid for unreimbursed medical expenses may be treated differently and is often excluded from the income counted toward the Medicaid income limit. Once you're eligible and living in a medical institution or intermediate care facility, though, income that was disregarded at eligibility must be counted in the share-of-cost calculation, so the A&A amount does count toward the patient liability you owe the facility. Incurred medical expenses are not the only deduction, and they are not the first one. Under 42 CFR 435.725(c) the agency must deduct five amounts from your total income, in this order: (1) a personal needs allowance, reasonable in amount for clothing and other personal needs while in the institution, which Illinois sets at $60 a month for skilled nursing facility residents; (2) for a resident with only a spouse at home, an additional amount for the maintenance needs of that spouse; (3) for a resident with a family at home, an additional amount for the maintenance needs of that family; (4) amounts for incurred expenses for medical or remedial care not subject to payment by a third party, which the regulation says includes Medicare and other health insurance premiums, deductibles, or coinsurance; and (5) the full amount of any SSI and state supplement you continues to receive. Only what remains after all five reaches the facility, and each one is a deduction the agency is required to make rather than an allowance a family has to apply for. The spouse and family amounts are measured against state standards rather than a single federal figure, so ask HFS what they would be. That section covers people in medical institutions and intermediate care facilities. It does not settle what someone receiving home and community-based waiver services owes toward their care, so confirm that separately with HFS. Because this depends on your specific situation, confirm it with HFS, the Illinois Department of Human Services, or an accredited Veteran Service Officer before relying on it.

For the bigger picture of how to protect assets and income while qualifying for Medicaid long-term care, start with our guide to Medicaid planning strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does VA Aid and Attendance pay in Illinois in 2026?

The maximum depends on your situation. A veteran alone gets up to $2,424 a month, a veteran with a spouse gets up to $2,874 a month, and a surviving spouse gets up to $1,558 a month. These are federal rates, identical in Illinois. Your actual payment is reduced by your countable income, and out-of-pocket medical expenses can lower that income and raise your benefit.

Where can I get free help applying in Illinois?

Contact an Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs (IDVA) Veteran Service Office. IDVA's Veteran Service Officers are trained and accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and provide free assistance to veterans and their dependents and survivors, and you can find the nearest office using the department's online VSO locator. The services an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative provides on a VA benefit claim are always free.

Can I receive Aid and Attendance and Illinois Medicaid at the same time?

Yes. A veteran can receive both. VA pension income is generally counted for Medicaid, but the portion of Aid and Attendance paid for unreimbursed medical expenses may be treated differently and is often excluded from the income counted toward the Medicaid income limit. Once you're eligible and living in a medical institution or intermediate care facility, though, that income is counted again in the share-of-cost calculation, so A&A does go toward the patient liability you owe the facility. But incurred medical expenses are only one of five deductions 42 CFR 435.725(c) requires first, in order: a personal needs allowance ($60 a month in Illinois skilled nursing facilities), a maintenance allowance for a spouse at home, one for other family at home, incurred medical expenses, and any SSI or state supplement you keep. All five are deductions the agency must make. Home and community-based waiver services fall under a different calculation, so ask HFS about that. Because this depends on your situation, confirm with HFS, the Illinois Department of Human Services, or an accredited Veteran Service Officer before applying.

How long does it take to get approved?

Asked that question, the VA answers "It depends." It works claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing. The most common cause of delay is an incomplete application, so have the medical examiner be detailed on VA Form 21-2680 and submit all supporting documents at once.

What if the VA denies my claim?

A denial isn't the end of the road. If the VA decides your Aid and Attendance claim for less than you expected or turns it down, you have three decision review options: a Supplemental Claim (submit new and relevant evidence the VA didn't have before), a Higher-Level Review (a higher-level reviewer re-examines the case to see whether an error or a difference of opinion changes the decision, with no new evidence allowed), or an appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (a Veterans Law Judge reviews your case). For most VA benefits you have 1 year from the date on the decision letter to request a Higher-Level Review or a Board appeal, and the letter states your deadline; a Supplemental Claim can be filed at any time, though the VA recommends filing within 1 year to keep your effective date. An accredited Veterans Service Organization representative, such as an IDVA Veteran Service Officer, can help you file the review at no charge, while an accredited attorney or claims agent may charge a fee for work done after the VA has issued notice of its initial decision, which is the point at which fees become allowed at all; the VA benefits hotline is 800-827-1000 (TTY 711), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET.

Learn More

MedicaidMedicaid Planning StrategiesSee which assets you keep, how the 5-year look-back works, and the legal moves that qualify you for Medicaid long-term care without losing the house. Care TypesAssisted Living in IllinoisAssisted living in Illinois averages about $6,219/month. What it is, whether the Medicaid Supportive Living Program pays, and how to vet a facility. Care TypesNursing Homes in IllinoisNursing homes in Illinois in 2026: what a skilled nursing facility costs, how to check a facility's quality, and how Medicaid pays for nursing-home care. Care TypesMemory Care in IllinoisMemory care in Illinois isn't a separate license. Learn the settings it lives in, what the Special Care Disclosure Act requires, and what it costs. Care TypesThe Cost of Senior Care in IllinoisWhat senior care costs in Illinois in 2026: assisted living runs about $6,219 a month, a nursing home about $99,645 a year. See every setting and how to pay. Care TypesAssisted Living vs. Nursing Homes in IllinoisAssisted living vs. a nursing home in Illinois turns on level of care and who pays: about $6,219/month private-pay vs. roughly $99,645/year for a nursing home.
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