The two Kansas state veterans homes charge each veteran by ability to pay and turn no veteran away over money, a Kansas Legislative Research Department memo says. If a veteran parent in Kansas needs care around the clock, the Kansas Soldiers' Home in Fort Dodge and the Kansas Veterans' Home in Winfield, both run by the Kansas Office of Veterans Services, are worth a hard look.

In This Guide

Kansas's Two State Veterans Homes 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. Our national guide to State Veterans Homes shows how the program works in every state.

In Kansas, the Kansas Office of Veterans Services (KOVS) says it operates two state veterans homes, and Kansas statute fixes where each one sits:

  • Kansas Soldiers' Home, Fort Dodge. K.S.A. 76-1901 names the institution on the Fort Dodge military reservation "the Kansas soldiers' home."
  • Kansas Veterans' Home, Winfield. K.S.A. 76-1951 directs KOVS to operate the Kansas Veterans' Home on the grounds of the Winfield state hospital and training center.

The Kansas Legislative Research Department describes the kinds of care the two Kansas homes provide:

  • Long-term care and related medical services, for veterans who need skilled or intermediate nursing care.
  • Domiciliary care, for veterans whose disability keeps them from earning a living but who don't need hospitalization or nursing care.
  • Cottage living at the Kansas Soldiers' Home, for veterans who can live independently and keep up the residence.

KOVS's website also lists a Northeast Kansas Veterans' Home in Topeka, but KOVS says it operates two homes, and the Topeka home is still waiting on construction money. The Kansas Legislative Research Department says the 2023 Kansas Legislature set aside $17.2 million to build a third home next to the Colmery-O'Neil Medical Center in Topeka, contingent on the federal government paying the remaining 65.0 percent, and that KOVS reported during the 2026 legislative session that the federal match had not yet been released. For a parent in northeast Kansas, that means Winfield or Fort Dodge for now, or one of the nursing homes VA runs itself; our guide to VA nursing home care covers VA Community Living Centers.

Who Can Get Into a Kansas State Veterans Home

Here is the part that trips families up: the Kansas Office of Veterans Services publishes two different admission lists, and Kansas statute words the rules a third way. Read all three before you decide your parent doesn't qualify. The table sets the KOVS Veteran Homes page, the KOVS FAQ ("How can I get into a Veterans home?") and the two Kansas statutes, K.S.A. 76-1908 (Kansas Soldiers' Home) and K.S.A. 76-1954 (Kansas Veterans' Home), side by side.

Rule KOVS Veteran Homes page KOVS FAQ K.S.A. 76-1908 and 76-1954
Discharge Other than dishonorable Honorable Other than dishonorable
Service Completed active federal service; meets VA's criteria for veteran status At least 90 days of active service, with at least one day in a wartime period, not counting training Served during any period of war, or in peacetime with entitlement to VA hospital or domiciliary care
Care need 24-hour skilled nursing care, documented by a physician, and a condition the home can care for VA's criteria for skilled nursing care, and no care needs the home isn't equipped to handle Disabled by disease, wounds, old age or otherwise, to the point of being unable to earn a living
Criminal history No sex offender registry listing; no felony conviction or guilty plea in any state No sex offender registry listing; not in felony fugitive status No felony conviction, unless the KOVS director finds the person rehabilitated and not dangerous
Kansas residency Not required, though Kansas residents get preference Not addressed At least two years of Kansas residency before applying

Where the columns disagree, only the Kansas Office of Veterans Services can tell you which rule it applies today. If your parent has a general discharge, served only in peacetime, lives out of state or moved to Kansas recently, call KOVS and ask how it handles that case today before ruling out Fort Dodge or Winfield.

Can a spouse or parent move in too?

On a space-available basis, the Kansas Office of Veterans Services' Veteran Homes page says spouses, surviving spouses and Gold Star parents may qualify for admission to a Kansas state veterans home. VA notes that State Veterans Homes differ on this: some admit non-veteran spouses and Gold Star parents, while others admit only veterans.

Who goes first?

The Kansas Office of Veterans Services' Veteran Homes page says admission priority at the Kansas state veterans homes goes first to veterans who don't have adequate means of support, and within that group to those with the greatest medical need and the least ability to afford care or housing in the community. Kansas statute requires the same first priority for a veteran with no adequate means of support.

What a Kansas State Veterans Home Costs

What your parent pays at Fort Dodge or Winfield depends on what your parent can afford, not on a posted price. Here is how the Kansas Legislative Research Department describes the billing at the two Kansas homes:

  • A fixed room rate, but not a fixed bill. Both Kansas state veterans homes have a fixed monthly room rate, yet the amount a veteran is actually charged depends on the veteran's ability to pay.
  • Money doesn't block admission. No veteran is denied admission to either Kansas home based on financial status.
  • Family members, if there's room. The Kansas Legislative Research Department says the Kansas state veterans homes may also care for veterans' family members when space is available.

A veteran with a high service-connected disability rating who needs nursing home care may owe nothing for that care; the section on when VA pays in full explains who qualifies.

Kansas law also puts a ceiling on the charge. Under K.S.A. 76-1904a (Kansas Soldiers' Home) and K.S.A. 76-1952 (Kansas Veterans' Home), the KOVS director sets the rates, and the charges at either Kansas home may not exceed the lesser of the home's per diem cost of care for the preceding year or the charge made to patients under K.S.A. 59-2006. No published source we could verify lists the current monthly rate at either home, so ask KOVS for the figure and for what your parent would be charged.

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. 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 Kansas explains how that works.

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 living at Fort Dodge or Winfield has no VA per diem behind the bill. For how Kansas Medicaid (KanCare) treats a nursing home stay, see our guide to Kansas Medicaid and nursing home care.

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:

  • 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.

Here is what the federal rule means for a family's bill: if a veteran 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 to the State Veterans Home under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41 is payment in full for that nursing home care. Under a State home care agreement, a State Veterans Home that receives that full VA payment may not charge the veteran, an insurer or anyone else besides VA for the nursing home care VA paid for.

Kansas points the same way. The Kansas Legislative Research Department says veterans with a service-connected disability of 70.0 percent or more pay no resident fees at either Kansas state veterans home. The federal payment-in-full rule reaches only nursing home care, so a veteran in domiciliary care at Fort Dodge or Winfield should confirm the charge with KOVS. Bring the veteran's current VA rating letter to the first call with KOVS.

How to Apply to a Kansas State Veterans Home

Kansas statute says no one is admitted to a Kansas state veterans home except on an application to the Kansas Office of Veterans Services that the KOVS director approves.

1
Step 1

Call KOVS first

The Kansas Office of Veterans Services' main line is (785) 296-3976; ask which home has room for your parent's level of care and how KOVS applies the discharge and residency rules above.

2
Step 2

Get the Kansas forms

From KOVS's Eligibility & Admissions page, download the Application for Admission, the Application Checklist, the Authorization to Receive and Release PHI and the Notice of Privacy Practices.

3
Step 3

Line up the VA paperwork

The KOVS forms list also includes VA Form 10-10EZ (Application for Health Benefits), VA Form 10-10EZR (Health Benefits Update Form) and VA Form 10-5345 (Request for and Authorization to Release Health Information).

4
Step 4

Get the doctor's documentation

KOVS's Veteran Homes page asks for physician documentation of the need for 24-hour skilled nursing care.

5
Step 5

Send the packet to KOVS and follow up

Call the main line to confirm the packet arrived complete, and ask which home it is being reviewed for and when to expect the KOVS director's decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the state come after Dad's estate for unpaid charges later?

Only within limits. Kansas statute (K.S.A. 76-1904a and K.S.A. 76-1952) bars KOVS from suing a Kansas state veterans home resident or the resident's estate to recover charges unless the action starts within five years after the charges were incurred, and lets the KOVS director settle a claim and release the resident or estate from past charges in exchange for a payment. If a bill is in dispute, ask KOVS about a settlement before it lands on the estate.

Can a resident be asked to leave over money?

It can happen, with a hearing. Under K.S.A. 76-1908 and K.S.A. 76-1954, the KOVS director may discharge a Kansas state veterans home resident who got in by misrepresenting financial or physical condition, or whose finances or health have changed so much that staying is no longer justified, but only after notice and a chance to be heard under the Kansas administrative procedure act. Be complete and honest on the application.

Will Medicare pay for a long stay at a Kansas state veterans home?

No. Medicare Part A covers skilled nursing facility care only on a short-term, post-acute basis and doesn't cover long-term custodial care, so a long stay at a Kansas state veterans home has to be paid some other way.

What if Dad's service-connected claim with VA is still pending when he moves in?

Keep pushing the claim. Under 38 CFR 51.41, when a veteran receives a retroactive service-connected rating that makes the veteran eligible for VA's full nursing-home payment (a service-connected need, a 70 percent or higher rating, or TDIU), the State Veterans Home can request payment under its State home care agreement back to the rating's effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later. Ask KOVS how a retroactive rating would change your parent's bill at a Kansas state veterans home.

Learn More

VA BenefitsState Veterans Homes: Who Gets In, What It Costs, and How to ApplyState veterans homes are state-run, VA-certified care homes. See who gets in, how VA per diem and the 70% rating rule shape the cost, and find your state. VA BenefitsVA Benefits You Can Use for Senior Care in KansasA complete guide to VA senior care benefits in Kansas: home care, nursing homes, Aid and Attendance, state veterans homes, and how to access them in 2026. VA BenefitsHow VA Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for a Nursing Home in KansasVA Aid and Attendance pays a wartime veteran up to $29,093 a year toward nursing home costs in Kansas. Who qualifies, how it works, and how to apply in 2026. VA BenefitsVA Nursing Homes and Community Living Centers: Who Qualifies and What the VA PaysVA community living centers, contracted nursing homes, and state veterans homes: who VA must cover, what the 70% rule means, 21 free days, and the daily copay. MedicaidKansas Medicaid and Nursing Home Care: Coverage, Costs, and EligibilityHow Kansas Medicaid nursing home coverage works in 2026: KanCare eligibility, the asset limit, the spend-down, patient liability, and estate recovery.

Find personalized help deciding whether a Kansas state 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.

Still have questions?

Brevy answers from this guide and every other guide here, and can check what you qualify for.

BC

Brevy Care Team

Expert eldercare guidance from Brevy's team of healthcare professionals and researchers.