Indiana Veterans Home: Who Qualifies, Cost, How to Apply

If your dad or mom served and can't safely live at home anymore, the Indiana Veterans' Home in West Lafayette may be the place to look, and it can take a veteran's spouse too. The Indiana Veterans' Home, which the State of Indiana operates, accepts honorably discharged veterans, their spouses or surviving spouses, and Gold Star parents, and it offers independent living, long-term nursing care, short-term rehabilitation and memory care.1

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• The Indiana Veterans' Home at a Glance
• Who Can Apply to the Indiana Veterans' Home
• What the Indiana Veterans' Home Costs
• When VA Pays for Nursing Care in Full
• How to Apply to the Indiana Veterans' Home
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

The Indiana Veterans' Home at a Glance

A State Veterans Home is owned, operated and managed by a state government, not by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, though VA must formally recognize and certify each State Veterans Home and then surveys it every year to make sure it still meets VA standards. Each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules for its State Veterans Homes.2

Indiana's is the Indiana Veterans' Home (IVH), which its admissions letter describes as the only state veterans' home in Indiana.2 Here is what IVH and the National Association of State Veterans Homes (NASVH) say about the home:1

• Where: a campus of 250+ acres in West Lafayette, Indiana; IVH took its first resident in 1896.
• Who runs it: the State of Indiana operates IVH, and NASVH says IVH comes under the operational control of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Care levels: independent living, long-term nursing care, short-term rehabilitation and memory care.
• Admissions line: IVH's eligibility page gives its Admissions and Marketing Department's number, 765-497-8072.1

Because IVH is Indiana's only state veterans' home, a family that wants a closer option should also look at the nursing homes VA runs itself; our guide to VA nursing home care covers VA Community Living Centers, and our national guide to State Veterans Homes shows how the program works in every state.

Who Can Apply to the Indiana Veterans' Home

The Indiana Veterans' Home's eligibility page lists who may apply:1

• A veteran honorably discharged from the U.S. armed forces.
• A spouse or surviving spouse of an honorably discharged veteran.
• A Gold Star parent, meaning a parent of a service member who died while serving in the Armed Forces.

Three more rules apply to every Indiana Veterans' Home applicant. The applicant must have been an Indiana resident for at least one year right before applying, though IVH says residency waivers may apply for service members who enlisted from, or were discharged to, Indiana. IVH has no wartime-service requirement and accepts all periods of service. Every applicant must also pass a criminal background check that IVH runs.1

That list is broader than some states' lists: VA says some State Veterans Homes admit non-veteran spouses and Gold Star parents while others admit only veterans.2

One point is worth settling by phone before a spouse applies. IVH's own eligibility page sets no minimum length of marriage for a spouse or surviving spouse, but the NASVH directory entry for Indiana says spouses and surviving spouses must have been married to an eligible veteran for at least five years.1 If your parents married less than five years ago, ask the Admissions Department which rule it applies.

NASVH also describes how IVH decides: an Admissions Committee that includes the nursing and social services teams and the medical director screens each applicant, and current medical and financial information must come with every application.1

What the Indiana Veterans' Home Costs

The Indiana Veterans' Home's admissions letter gives one comprehensive price: a current rate of $615.95 per day, which includes nursing care, room, meals, housekeeping, laundry service and recreation activities. Over a month of care, that daily rate adds up fast, so who pays matters as much as who qualifies.2 The letter's rate is not necessarily your family's bill, though. IVH will give you an estimated rate once it receives the documents on its financial checklist, so asking for that estimate early is the quickest way to learn what your parent would actually owe.2

The admissions letter lists the ways a stay can be paid:2

• Medicare Part A, Medicaid, private insurance and private payment are all accepted by the Indiana Veterans' Home.
• Veteran benefits, when they apply, may help pay part of an IVH stay.
• Help with Medicaid if money runs short: if insurance and benefits don't cover the full cost and the resident can't pay from their own funds, IVH says it will help the resident apply for Medicaid after admission, so you won't be doing that application alone.

For how Indiana Medicaid treats a nursing home stay, see our guide to Indiana Medicaid and nursing home care.

VA money can help with a veteran's share. Under VA's State Veterans Home per diem, VA pays the state for each eligible veteran in a State home at the lesser of one-half of the daily cost of care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year, and federal law caps VA's per diem at half the cost of that veteran's care.3 A veteran who receives VA's Aid and Attendance benefit, a monthly payment added to the VA pension, may have monthly money to put toward the bill; our guide to Aid and Attendance for a nursing home in Indiana explains how that works.4

A parent who never served faces the hardest math. VA does not pay a State Veterans Home for the care of non-veterans, so a spouse or Gold Star parent at the Indiana Veterans' Home has no VA per diem behind their bill.2 If Mom is the one moving in, get her estimate before the move and plan for how insurance, savings and, later, Medicaid would cover it.

For questions about the daily charge or how billing works, the Indiana Veterans' Home's admissions letter points families to its Trust Department at (765) 497-8590.2

When VA Pays for Nursing Care in Full

For some veterans, the nursing care bill at a State Veterans Home can be zero. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA contracts with State homes to pay for the nursing home care of:3

• a veteran who needs nursing home care for a VA adjudicated service-connected disability;
• a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 70 percent or more who needs nursing home care;
• a veteran with a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care.

For a veteran who needs nursing home care and needs it for a service-connected disability, is rated 70 percent or more, or has a TDIU rating, VA's payment under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41 is payment in full to the State Veterans Home, and under a State home care agreement the home may not charge the veteran, an insurer or anyone else besides VA for the nursing home care VA paid for.3

IVH states the Indiana side plainly. The Indiana Veterans' Home's admissions letter says veterans with a VA service-connected disability of 70% or greater, or whom VA finds meet the criteria for VA's Higher Per Diem Program under 38 U.S.C. § 1745, qualify for free nursing care at the Indiana Veterans' Home.2 Bring the veteran's current VA rating letter to the first conversation with Admissions.

How to Apply to the Indiana Veterans' Home

The Indiana Veterans' Home takes applications as a completed packet, with all required documentation, sent by email, fax or regular mail, and screens every applicant before admission.5,1

IVH's Admissions Financial Checklist asks for, among other items:5

• a photo ID, Social Security card, and birth certificate or DD214;
• all medical insurance cards, including Medicare, front and back;
• marriage certificate, death certificate or divorce decree, and any power of attorney or guardianship paperwork;
• proof of all income for the last 3 months, such as pay stubs, a Social Security benefit letter, pension and other retirement income, or veterans benefits;
• statements for all bank accounts, including 3 months of savings and checking statements, certificates of deposit and retirement accounts;
• statements for any life insurance policies or annuities, and deeds for all homes and property;
• documentation of any gifts the applicant made in the past 5 years, including transfers of property or assets to someone else;
• any long-term care insurance policy for the applicant or spouse.

If your parents are legally married and a Medicaid application is in the picture, IVH's checklist says it needs the applicable documents for both spouses.5 Start pulling records now, since the checklist reaches back five years for gifts and transfers.

Learn More

Find personalized help deciding whether the Indiana Veterans' Home fits your family 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.