VA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in Indiana

Indiana veterans who need home care, a nursing home, or help with daily living can tap six VA long-term care programs, plus an Aid and Attendance pension ceiling of up to $34,488 a year.1 Most families never learn the full picture. If your loved one is a veteran, the challenge usually isn't eligibility. It's knowing what to ask for.

This guide covers every VA program that helps pay for or provide senior care, how to access them in Indiana, and what happens when VA care isn't enough on its own.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• VA Senior Care Benefits
• The Indiana Veterans' Home
• Aid and Attendance
• Veteran-Directed Care
• Community Care (MISSION Act)
• How VA Benefits Work with Medicare and Medicaid
• How to Get Started
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Next Steps

VA Senior Care Benefits: Long-Term Care Programs

The VA offers multiple long-term care programs.2 Access isn't automatic once a veteran is enrolled: VA also has to conclude the veteran needs that specific service for their ongoing treatment and personal care, and the service, or a space in the care setting, has to be available near them. VA may also consider other factors, like the veteran's service-connected disability status or insurance coverage.6

Home Based Primary Care (HBPC)

A VA physician supervises a health care team that visits the veteran at home.2 HBPC is designed for veterans with complex medical needs who have difficulty getting to a clinic regularly. The team typically includes a doctor, nurse, social worker, and may include rehabilitation therapists and a dietitian.

This isn't the same as home health care through Medicare. HBPC provides ongoing, coordinated primary care at home, not just short-term skilled visits. For veterans who qualify, it's one of the best programs the VA offers.

Adult Day Health Care

Veterans attend a structured daytime program that provides social activities, companionship, recreation, and care and support.2 It also gives family caregivers reliable daytime relief. Programs may be at VA facilities or contracted community adult day centers.

Community Living Centers (VA Nursing Homes)

Community Living Centers are VA nursing centers designed to feel like home, providing nursing-home-level care.2 CLCs are located at larger VA medical centers. They serve veterans who need short-term rehabilitation (after surgery or hospitalization), long-term nursing care, hospice care, or respite care.

Community Nursing Home Program

The VA contracts with community (non-VA) nursing homes so veterans can get nursing home care near home.2 Whether VA benefits help pay for nursing home care depends on the veteran's income and the level of their service-connected disability. The extended care copay rules apply too: there is no copay for geriatric or extended care for the first 21 days of care in a 12-month period, and starting on the 22nd day the VA bases the copay on the level of care being received and the financial information the veteran provides on the Application for Extended Care Services (VA Form 10-10EC). Some veterans don't have to pay copays at all; they are exempt because of their disability rating, income level, or special eligibility factors.6 Confirm the copay that will apply before assuming the cost is covered.

Respite Care

The VA offers respite care to give family caregivers a temporary break, and all enrolled veterans are eligible for it if they meet the clinical criteria for the service and it is available.7 Through the VA Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC), eligible Primary Family Caregivers receive at least 30 days of respite care per year.7 Respite can be in-home, where a substitute caregiver comes to the house or the veteran attends an adult day health care program, or facility-based, where the veteran stays temporarily in a CLC or community nursing home. Nursing Home Respite Care is available for a maximum of 30 days per calendar year.7 Contact the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274.7

The Indiana Veterans' Home

Indiana operates the Indiana Veterans' Home (IVH), a full-service care facility in West Lafayette on a campus of more than 250 acres.3 IVH welcomed its first resident in 1896 and offers independent living, long-term nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, and memory care. It falls under the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA).

Eligibility to apply extends to an honorably discharged veteran, the veteran's spouse or surviving spouse, and Gold Star parents.3 Applicants must have been an Indiana resident for at least one year immediately before applying, though residency waivers may apply for service members who enlisted from, or discharged to, Indiana. There is no wartime-service requirement; all periods of service are accepted, and all applicants must pass a criminal background check conducted by the home.3

Applications and current details are available from the IVH Admissions and Marketing Department at 765-497-8072.3 You can learn more through the Indiana Veterans' Home and the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.

VA Aid and Attendance

The Aid and Attendance pension is a monthly cash benefit for veterans (or surviving spouses) who need help with daily activities.1 It is paid as part of a qualified veteran's or survivor's VA pension, at a higher ceiling on that pension rather than as a standalone benefit.8

2026 Rates

The VA publishes these as Maximum Annual Pension Rates, effective December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026, so a monthly amount is the yearly award divided by 12. The exception is $2,874: VA publishes that figure outright as the monthly penalty period rate, which 38 CFR 3.276(e)(1) defines as the one-dependent Aid and Attendance rate divided by 12 and rounded down to the whole dollar. A Maximum Annual Pension Rate is a ceiling, not a payment. VA bases the payment amount on the difference between the claimant's income for VA purposes and that limit, so a household with countable income gets less than the figures above.1

Who Qualifies

To be eligible, the veteran must:9

• Have served during a wartime period
• Not have a dishonorable discharge
• Meet at least one of four alternatives: be 65 or older, 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
• Need help with at least one daily activity, such as bathing, dressing, or feeding
• Have a net worth below $163,699, which VA calculates from the claimant's and their dependents' assets plus annual income (the primary home and a vehicle are excluded)9

The VA enforces a 3-year look-back period on asset transfers for less than fair market value.9

How to Apply

The steps below are the pension route: VA's own condition is that you may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension. Apply using VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), whose examination information section a medical examiner must fill out. That same form also covers aid and attendance that will be added to monthly compensation benefits, so a veteran drawing VA disability compensation rather than a pension still uses it. A wartime veteran pursuing the pension route who isn't already receiving a VA pension files Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), the means-tested wartime pension application, as well.10 If you are still gathering information, you can submit VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File) 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.10 You can file online at VA.gov, by mail to the VA Pension Intake Center, or in person at a VA regional office. Asked how long a decision takes, VA's answer is "It depends." It processes claims in the order received, unless a claim requires priority processing.10

You don't have to file this on your own. The Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs publishes a county-by-county locator for Indiana's County Veterans Service Offices, the local points of contact that assist veterans and their family members with benefits they may be eligible for as a result of their military service.5

For the full application walkthrough, see our VA Aid and Attendance guide.

Aid and Attendance isn't the only benefit worth claiming if the veteran owns their home. Indiana offers property tax relief on a disabled veteran's residence as well, filed with the county rather than the VA, and our guide to the Indiana disabled veteran property tax exemption explains which version fits, what a surviving spouse can claim, and the form and filing deadline involved.

Veteran-Directed Care

The Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) program gives veterans a flexible budget to hire their own caregivers, including family members.11 The veteran (or their representative) decides who provides care, what services to purchase, and how to manage the budget.

A financial management services provider handles payroll and employer responsibilities.11 This is a good option for veterans who want control over their care and prefer family members as caregivers.

Contact your local VA medical center's social work department to ask about VDC availability in your area.

Community Care Through the MISSION Act

The MISSION Act (2018) expanded when veterans can receive care from community (non-VA) providers.4 Two requirements always apply: the veteran has to be enrolled in or eligible for VA health care, and has to get approval from their VA health care team before seeing a community provider, except in cases like urgent or emergency care.4 Beyond that, you may be eligible for community care if:

• The VA can't offer an appointment within 20 days (primary care/mental health) or 28 days (specialty care)
• The drive to a VA facility exceeds 30 minutes (primary care) or 60 minutes (specialty care)
• The service you need isn't provided at any VA health facility
• Community care is in your best medical interest4

In 2025, the Senator Elizabeth Dole Act removed a second-physician review step, making it faster for eligible veterans to access community care.4

For Indiana veterans in rural areas far from a VA medical center, the MISSION Act can be the difference between getting timely care and waiting months.

How VA Benefits Work with Medicare and Medicaid

VA benefits don't replace Medicare or Medicaid, no one has to enroll in Medicare to keep VA health care, and a veteran or surviving spouse can often receive VA pension and Medicaid at once.12,13 What they don't do is coordinate or pay each other: you choose which coverage to use at each visit, and VA health care isn't creditable coverage for Medicare Part B, so delaying Part B while relying on the VA alone means a lifetime penalty that grows every year.12

• VA + Medicare: Many veterans use both. Medicare covers care from non-VA providers, while VA covers care at VA facilities. You can't bill both for the same service, but having both gives you more options.
• VA + Medicaid: Indiana Medicaid covers long-term care for low-income aged, blind, and disabled residents through nursing facility coverage and home- and community-based pathways, including the Indiana PathWays for Aging program for members age 60 and older.8 Under general federal pension rules, VA pension (including the A&A increase) counts as income, but unreimbursed medical expenses the veteran actually pays out of pocket can reduce the income that counts for VA pension purposes.8 At the Indiana Medicaid eligibility step the treatment is different: Indiana applies SSI income methodologies for aged, blind, and disabled applicants, and under SSI methodology VA aid and attendance and housebound allowances are not income, so only the basic pension counts toward the income limit.8 Eligibility is only the first step, though. The federal share-of-cost rule, 42 CFR 435.725, is written for individuals in medical institutions and intermediate care facilities, and where it governs, income disregarded in determining eligibility must be considered in the post-eligibility calculation, so any A&A amount not counted at the eligibility step does count there.8 Incurred medical expenses are only one of five deductions the agency must make first, in this order: (1) a personal needs allowance for clothing and other personal needs while in the institution; (2) for a resident with only a spouse at home, an amount for that spouse's maintenance needs; (3) for a resident with a family at home, an amount for that family's maintenance needs; (4) amounts for incurred expenses for medical or remedial care that are not subject to payment by a third party; and (5) the full amount of any SSI and state supplementary payments the resident continues to receive.8 All five are deductions the agency is required to make, not benefits a family applies for, and Indiana sets the personal needs and spousal maintenance dollar amounts, so ask the Indiana Medicaid eligibility office for the figures it will use.8 That regulation is written for institutional care, so it does not settle the post-eligibility result for home and community-based waiver services such as Indiana PathWays for Aging; ask the eligibility office which rule governs that setting.8,13
• The Indiana Veterans' Home serves veterans across care levels: independent living, long-term nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, and memory care. For how a particular resident's care is arranged and paid for, contact the IVH Admissions and Marketing Department at 765-497-8072.3

Because how a VA pension is treated for Medicaid eligibility depends on the specific Medicaid pathway and a household's circumstances, families should confirm their situation with a County Veterans Service Officer and the Indiana Medicaid eligibility office before relying on any single rule.8

How to Get Started

Next Steps

If you're caring for a veteran who needs help, start by contacting the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs or your County Veterans Service Officer. They can assess which benefits apply and help you file.

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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.