VA Aid and Attendance for Nursing Home Care in Kansas

VA Aid and Attendance can raise a qualifying wartime veteran's maximum pension to as much as $29,093 a year, about $2,424 a month, money that can go toward nursing home care in Kansas. Most families find out about this benefit only after they have been paying for care out of pocket for months. This guide explains how Aid and Attendance works for nursing home residents, who qualifies, how it interacts with KanCare (Kansas Medicaid), and where to get free, accredited help applying.1

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• How Much a Nursing Home Costs in Kansas
• How VA Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for a Nursing Home
• How Nursing Home Costs Lower Your Countable Income
• Who Qualifies
• The Nursing-Home Pension Cap Under Medicaid
• How Aid and Attendance Works with Kansas Medicaid
• How to Apply for Aid and Attendance in Kansas
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

How Much a Nursing Home Costs in Kansas

A semi-private nursing home room in Kansas costs about $285 a day, roughly $104,025 per year at 365 days of care (about $8,669 a month), and a private room about $298 a day, roughly $108,770 per year (about $9,064 a month), according to the CareScout 2025 state-level Cost of Care Survey data. Both figures sit below the current national medians of approximately $114,975 and $129,575 per year reported in the same CareScout (formerly Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released in March 2026, though Kansas semi-private rates rose 12% year over year against 3% nationally. These are industry-survey medians collected at the metropolitan-area level, not government figures, and costs vary within the state and rise as care needs increase.2

Even at Kansas's comparatively lower rates, nursing home care quickly becomes one of the largest expenses a family faces. VA Aid and Attendance can substantially offset that cost.

How VA Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for a Nursing Home

VA Aid and Attendance is an increased VA pension rate for veterans who need help with daily activities (such as bathing, dressing, eating, or adjusting prosthetic devices) or who live in a nursing home due to physical or mental incapacity. For a veteran with no dependents, it raises the maximum annual pension from $17,441 to $29,093.1

For 2026, the VA publishes these maximums as annual rates; a monthly payment is the yearly amount divided by 12:

• Veteran with no dependents: $29,093 per year (about $2,424 per month)
• Veteran with one dependent (such as a spouse): $34,488 per year (about $2,874 per month)
• Surviving spouse with no dependents: $18,697 per year (about $1,558 per month)1

These are VA pension payments, not reimbursements and not payments sent directly to the facility. The veteran or surviving spouse receives the money and can apply it toward nursing home costs.

The VA does not run or pay for private nursing homes. The benefit is a monthly cash payment to help families cover the cost.

How Nursing Home Costs Lower Your Countable Income

VA pension, including Aid and Attendance, is a needs-based benefit: to be eligible, the veteran's yearly family income and net worth must meet limits set by Congress.1 Because the benefit is keyed to the income the VA counts, lowering that income raises the payment.

The key: the VA lets you subtract unreimbursed medical expenses (including out-of-pocket nursing home costs) from your countable income, but only the portion that exceeds 5% of your applicable MAPR.1

As the VA puts it: "If you have medical expenses, you may deduct only the amount that's above 5% of your MAPR amount ($872 for a Veteran with no spouse or child)."1 That floor rises if you have dependents, but it never includes the Aid and Attendance or housebound increase.1

Only the amount above that annual floor is deductible. When nursing home costs are large, this deduction can zero out countable income and result in the full Aid and Attendance rate.

Example (annual): A single veteran has $20,000 in annual income and pays $80,000 per year out of pocket for a nursing home room. He subtracts $872 (the 5% floor), leaving $79,128 in deductible expenses. That wipes out his $20,000 in countable income, and he qualifies for the full $29,093 per year ($2,424/month) Aid and Attendance rate.1

Who Qualifies

To qualify for VA pension with Aid and Attendance, a veteran must not have received a dishonorable discharge, and must meet all of the following:5

Wartime service. How much service is required turns on when the veteran started active duty, and VA's list has three paths; meeting any one of them satisfies the test. Someone who started 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 era, or the Gulf War, which began August 2, 1990. Someone who started as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally needs at least 24 months, or the full period they were called or ordered to active duty (with some exceptions), again with at least one day during wartime. And someone who started active duty as an officer after October 16, 1981 meets the test if they had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months.1

Age, disability, or status. VA asks that at least one of four things be true: the veteran is at least 65 years old, has a permanent and total disability, is a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability, or is getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. The last two branches stand on their own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI qualifies here without any permanent-and-total rating.5

Net worth under $163,699. VA's net worth calculation includes the claimant's and their dependents' assets and their annual income, so comparing assets alone against the limit gives the wrong answer. What it leaves out matters just as much: assets do not include the primary home, one personal vehicle, or basic home items like appliances you would not take with you if you moved, so the house you live in does not push you over the limit. What does count is counted net of debt, because assets are the fair market value of the real and personal property owned minus the amount of any mortgages, and VA may subtract unreimbursed medical and educational expenses when it assesses income for VA purposes and net worth. For a married veteran this is a household test rather than an individual one, because net worth includes the spouse's.5 A 3-year look-back period applies to asset transfers made for less than fair market value on or after October 18, 2018; penalties can extend up to 5 years.5

Need for aid and attendance. The veteran must require help with daily activities, be largely confined to bed, be a nursing home patient due to mental or physical incapacity, or have severe vision impairment (5/200 or less in both eyes, or visual field contracted to 5 degrees).

Surviving spouses of wartime veterans may qualify for the Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance under similar rules.

The Nursing-Home Pension Cap Under Medicaid

There is a critical federal rule that applies when a veteran or surviving spouse without a dependent spouse or child is covered by a Medicaid plan for nursing-facility services: the VA pays no more than $90 per month in pension for any period after the month of admission to the nursing facility.3

This rule comes from 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(2) and its implementing regulation at 38 CFR 3.551. VA says the facility can't count that monthly payment as income toward your cost of care, so the veteran keeps the full $90 for personal expenses while Medicaid (KanCare) covers the facility.3

This cap applies only when the nursing stay is covered by Medicaid and there is no dependent spouse or child. It does not apply to a veteran paying privately or to a veteran with a dependent spouse or child.

A second exclusion is easy to miss and worth real money. The statute's own definition at 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(1)(B) leaves "a facility that is a State home with respect to which the Secretary makes per diem payments for nursing home care pursuant to section 1741(a) of this title" out of the term "nursing facility".3 Kansas says the same thing in its own words: KEESM 8150 states that "Veterans with a spouse or other dependent(s) and veterans residing in one of the state VA homes are not subject to the reduced VA pension."4 If the placement you are pricing is a state veterans home rather than a community nursing facility, check which rule applies before assuming the pension drops.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Kansas Medicaid

VA Aid and Attendance and Kansas Medicaid (KanCare, administered by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment) are separate programs with different income and asset rules. A senior may qualify for and receive both, but they interact.4

At the eligibility step, Kansas applies SSI income rules, under which the Aid and Attendance allowance is not counted as income at all, so only the basic pension counts toward KanCare's Medicaid income limit. SSA names Kansas an SSI Criteria State rather than one of the eight more restrictive 209(b) states, which is why that treatment applies here.4

Kansas also protects the Aid and Attendance money at the second step, where a resident's liability for the cost of care is computed. KEESM 6410 exempts VA aid and attendance and housebound payments as income in the month received, and KEESM 8150 excepts VA aid and attendance benefits and VA benefits resulting from unusual medical expenses from the income counted in determining patient liability. There is a timing trap on the other side of that, though: KEESM 8150 also provides that the full pension amount including aid and attendance, where it has not yet been reduced but will be once VA is notified of Medicaid nursing-facility approval, is countable toward patient liability in the meantime.4

Kansas's institutional standard for personal needs is $62 a month under KEESM 8160, and it is a different thing from the federal $90 rate. Kansas treats the reduced pension as an income exemption in the patient-liability computation rather than as its personal needs allowance, so do not add the $90 and the $62 together into one protected amount.4 How all of this lands on a specific household's numbers depends on its other income and expenses, so anyone weighing both programs should confirm their own figures with a KOVS Veteran Service Representative and with KanCare/KDHE before applying.4

How to Apply for Aid and Attendance in Kansas

The steps below describe the pension route, the one this guide covers: VA's condition for this benefit is "You may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension." VA Form 21-2680 also covers Aid and Attendance "that will be added to your monthly compensation or pension benefits," so a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than a pension still uses that form but does not file the pension application below.6

On the pension route, you will need these VA forms:

• 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 to document the veteran's need for assistance.
• VA Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), which a wartime veteran who is not already receiving a VA pension files to open the pension claim the Aid and Attendance rate attaches to. This is the wartime, means-tested pension application, not the form for a veteran seeking Aid and Attendance added to disability compensation.
• VA Form 21-0779 (Request for Nursing Home Information in Connection with Claim for Aid and Attendance), which a claim for a nursing home resident will also need to have filled out.6

You can complete and submit the pension application online at va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21p-527ez, or mail it to the VA Pension Intake Center, file it in person at a VA regional office, or file through an accredited representative. If you are still gathering information, you can submit VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File) first: VA says doing so "can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive." Asked how long a decision takes, VA answers "It depends," and adds that it processes claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing.6

Free help in Kansas: The Kansas Office of Veterans Services (KOVS) provides claims help through Veteran Service Representatives it describes as trained and accredited, available at field office locations across the state, and it states that all services are provided for no charge between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.4 Call ahead rather than turning up: KOVS tells veterans to schedule an appointment with their local Veteran Service Representative to find out which benefits they may qualify for, and warns that all itinerant travel schedules are subject to change.4 Claims counseling, development, and processing can also be done from home by video conference or telephone. Contact your local VSR or call the KOVS main line at (785) 296-3976.4 The services an accredited VSO representative provides on a VA benefit claim are always free; an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge fees.4

Compare Care Settings in Kansas

Aid and Attendance can help pay for any care setting. See how it works for the others:

• How Aid and Attendance Pays for Assisted Living in Kansas
• How Aid and Attendance Pays for In-Home Care in Kansas
• How Aid and Attendance Pays for Memory Care in Kansas

Learn More

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.