VA Aid and Attendance in Indiana (2026)

VA Aid and Attendance in Indiana can pay a wartime veteran up to $2,874 a month ($34,488 a year) when they need regular help with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing, or eating.1 Yet most Indiana veterans who qualify never apply, because they don't know the program exists. Aid and Attendance is a federal benefit, so the rates are the same in Indiana as anywhere else.

This guide walks through who qualifies, how much you can receive, how to apply, and where to get free help filing in Indiana, including from the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs and your County Veterans Service Officer.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What Is Aid and Attendance?
• Do You Qualify?
• 2026 VA Aid and Attendance Rates in Indiana
• The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Lookback
• How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Indiana
• Free Help in Indiana: IDVA and County Veterans Service Officers
• How Aid and Attendance Works with Indiana Medicaid
• Frequently Asked Questions

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 is the ceiling on the whole pension, not the basic rate plus a separate Aid and Attendance payment.1 This guide covers that pension route. VA Form 21-2680 is also used to claim Aid and Attendance that will be added to monthly compensation, so a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than a pension is on a different track and should ask a County Veterans Service Officer which route applies before filing anything.3

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).2

A&A is tax-free,5 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 Indiana families piecing together long-term care.

Do You Qualify?

To receive Aid and Attendance, you have to meet all four of these requirements.2

1. Wartime service. How much service the veteran needs depends on when they entered. 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. A third branch covers officers: an officer who started active duty after October 16, 1981 and hadn't previously served on active duty for at least 24 months also satisfies the service test.

2. Discharge, age, or disability. The veteran must not have received a dishonorable discharge, and must meet at least one of four alternatives: 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 or Supplemental Security Income. Those last two branches stand on their own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI meets this requirement without any adjudicated 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. It counts your assets plus your annual income combined. Your primary home, one personal vehicle, and basic household items don't count.1

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 2026.1

2026 VA Aid and Attendance Rates in Indiana

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 Indiana as anywhere else. The VA publishes them as annual amounts; a monthly payment is the yearly award divided by 12.1 For reference, the basic pension MAPR without Aid and Attendance is $17,441 a year for a veteran with no dependents.1

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.1 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 income as the VA counts it.1

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

What doesn't count: your primary residence, one personal vehicle, and basic household goods. The house you live in doesn't push you over the limit, which matters for the many Indiana veterans who own their homes outright but live on a modest fixed income.

That house may be worth something on the tax side, too. Indiana gives disabled veterans property tax relief on the home they live in, on a track entirely separate from the VA pension you are applying for here, and our guide to the Indiana 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.2 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 Indiana

These steps are the pension route, the one a wartime veteran seeking a VA pension with Aid and Attendance follows. It takes two forms and a medical exam, and you can protect your filing date before you have either one.3 Filing while you're managing a parent's or spouse's declining health isn't easy, and gathering forms and medical records during a care crisis is exactly what a County Veterans Service Officer is there to take off your plate.

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 Indiana: IDVA and County Veterans Service Officers

You don't have to file this claim alone, and you should never pay to file an initial VA claim. Free, accredited help is available across Indiana.4

The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA)

The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs, known as IDVA, is the state agency whose mission is to help Hoosier veterans, service members, their dependents, and survivors obtain every benefit due them under the laws of Indiana and the United States, including federal VA pension benefits like Aid and Attendance. IDVA doesn't decide your VA claim itself (the federal VA does that), but it works with a statewide network of service officers who help with information and prepare your paperwork at no charge.4

The state also operates the Indiana Veterans' Home (IVH) in West Lafayette, a full-service care facility that welcomed its first resident in 1896. Set on a campus of more than 250 acres, IVH offers independent living, long-term nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, and memory care. Eligibility to apply extends to honorably discharged veterans, a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse, and Gold Star parents; applicants must have been an Indiana resident for at least one year immediately preceding application (residency waivers may apply for service members who enlisted from, or discharged to, Indiana), all applicants must pass a criminal background check conducted by the Home, and there is no wartime-service requirement, since all periods of service are accepted.6 For a veteran weighing nursing or memory care, an A&A award can help cover costs whether they stay at home or move into the home.

County Veterans Service Officers

IDVA works with a statewide network of certified County Veterans Service Officers (CVSOs), who are there to assist veterans, dependents, and survivors with information and the preparation of benefit paperwork at no cost.4 A CVSO can prepare and submit your Aid and Attendance claim, gather the evidence the VA needs, and guide you through the process, all at no cost to you. Because they are certified and work these claims every day, they know how to document one so it moves through the VA cleanly the first time.

Indiana is home to a large veteran population, with hundreds of thousands of veterans living across the state, according to the VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics.7 With that many veterans relying on the same network, it's worth contacting your County Veterans Service Officer early rather than waiting until a care crisis forces the issue.

Be cautious of companies that charge fees to help with VA claims. An accredited attorney or claims agent may charge you only for representation provided after the VA has issued notice of its initial decision on your claim, so no one may charge you to prepare and file that first claim; a VSO representative's services on VA benefit claims are always free.8 Free help is available through your County Veterans Service Officer, IDVA, or a Veterans Service Organization like the VFW, American Legion, or DAV. If someone asks for a fee to file your first claim, walk away and call a CVSO instead.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Indiana Medicaid

Aid and Attendance and Indiana 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.9

• A&A is an increase to your VA pension, not a standalone benefit. It's the same pension paid at a higher maximum rate to a qualified veteran or survivor, which is why it interacts with other income-tested programs.9
• Indiana Medicaid covers long-term care for aged, blind, and disabled Hoosiers. That includes institutional nursing-facility coverage and home- and community-based pathways, and, as of July 1, 2024, the Indiana PathWays for Aging program for members age 60 and older, administered by the Family and Social Services Administration's Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning (OMPP).9
• Unreimbursed medical expenses can lower your countable income. Under general federal pension rules, VA pension (including the A&A increase) is counted as income, but the cost of care you actually pay out of pocket can reduce the income that counts for VA pension purposes; for VA, only the portion of medical expenses above 5% of the MAPR is deductible.9
• How a VA pension is treated for Medicaid depends on your pathway. In practical terms: A&A pension income generally counts toward Indiana Medicaid's income test, but the money you actually spend on care (unreimbursed medical expenses) can be deducted, which is often what keeps a veteran under the limit. Eligibility is only the first step, though: once you are eligible and living in a medical institution or intermediate care facility, income that was disregarded in determining eligibility must be considered in the post-eligibility share-of-cost calculation (42 CFR 435.725), so any A&A amount not counted at the eligibility step does count toward what you owe toward the cost of your care. Incurred medical expenses are only one of five amounts the agency is required to deduct from that income first, in this order: (1) a personal needs allowance that is reasonable in amount for your clothing and other personal needs in the institution, and that must be at least a federal monthly minimum; (2) for someone with only a spouse at home, an additional amount for that spouse's maintenance needs, based on a reasonable assessment of need; (3) for someone with a family at home, an additional amount for the family's maintenance needs, adjusted for the number of family members living in the home; (4) amounts for incurred expenses for medical or remedial care not subject to payment by a third party; and (5) the full amount of any SSI and state supplement you continue to receive. Each of the five is a deduction the agency is required to make, not an allowance a family applies for or has to prove, and it is only what remains after all five that goes toward the cost of your care. The dollar figure Indiana actually protects as a personal needs allowance is set by the state, so ask the Indiana Medicaid eligibility office what yours would be rather than assuming a number. That calculation is the one for a person in a medical institution or intermediate care facility; it does not settle what someone receiving home and community-based waiver services owes toward their care, so confirm that pathway separately. Because the treatment varies by the specific Indiana Medicaid pathway and a household's circumstances, confirm your situation with a County Veterans Service Officer and the Indiana Medicaid eligibility office before relying on any single rule.9

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

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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.