A wartime veteran in Massachusetts who needs daily help with bathing or dressing can receive a VA pension of up to $34,488 a year with a spouse. A veteran alone can receive up to $29,093, and a surviving spouse up to $18,697 a year. VA Aid and Attendance in Massachusetts is a federal benefit, paid at the same rates here as in every other state.

In This Guide

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. On the pension route, which is what this guide covers, 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 maximum for the whole pension, not a separate check on top of the basic rate. Aid and Attendance is not paid only as part of a pension: VA Form 21-2680 also covers an Aid and Attendance allowance added to monthly compensation for a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than pension.

You may qualify if you need help with daily activities such as:

  • Bathing or showering
  • Dressing and undressing
  • Eating (feeding yourself)
  • 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).

A&A is exempt from taxation under federal law, so you don't count it as taxable income. For a family piecing together long-term care, it can help with in-home care, assisted living, or nursing home costs.

Not sure whether your parent qualifies for Aid and Attendance? Chat with Brevy's care navigator at brevy.com.

Do You Qualify?

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

1. Wartime service, and no dishonorable discharge. A veteran who started active duty before September 8, 1980 must have served at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a recognized wartime period. Qualifying periods include World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War (which includes all post-9/11 service). A veteran who started active duty as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally needs at least 24 months of active duty, or the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty, still with at least one day during wartime. A third branch covers officers: one who started on active duty after October 16, 1981 and had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months.

2. Age, disability, nursing-home status, or SSDI/SSI. This test is not limited to age or a disability rating. The veteran 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. Any one of the four is enough, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI meets this test without an adjudicated permanent-and-total rating.

3. Need for assistance. The veteran or surviving spouse must need regular help with daily activities, be bedridden or spend a large portion of the day in bed because of illness, be in a nursing home, or have severely limited eyesight as described above.

4. Net worth of no more than $163,699. This is the limit for December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026. VA's net worth calculation combines the claimant's and their dependents' assets with their annual income. Your primary home is excluded. So are personal effects suitable to and consistent with a reasonable mode of life, which the regulation illustrates as appliances and family transportation vehicles.,

Surviving spouses qualify too. If the veteran has passed away and the surviving spouse needs help with daily activities, they can apply for the VA Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance.

2026 VA Aid and Attendance Rates in Massachusetts

The Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) for your category is the maximum amount of pension payable, not an amount you receive. The VA pays the difference between your income for VA purposes and that limit. These rates are federal, so they're the same in Massachusetts as anywhere else.

VA publishes these rates as annual amounts but pays monthly: your MAPR minus countable income, divided by 12 and rounded down to the whole dollar (38 CFR 3.273 and 3.29(b)). With a spouse and no countable income, $34,488 becomes $2,874 a month, the figure VA also publishes as its 2026 penalty-period rate.

Category Maximum Annual Rate
Veteran, no dependents $29,093
Veteran with spouse $34,488
Two veterans married to each other (both A&A) $46,143
Surviving spouse, no dependents $18,697
Veteran, no dependents (Housebound) $21,313
Veteran, no dependents (basic pension) $17,441
Each additional dependent +$2,984

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, which VA divides by 12 to set the monthly payment. Unreimbursed medical expenses can lower your countable income and raise your benefit, but only the part above 5% of your MAPR counts ($1,141 for a veteran with one dependent, $872 with none, $584 for a surviving spouse with no child).

The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Look-Back

The net worth limit for December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026 is $163,699. VA's calculation combines the assets of the claimant and their dependents (savings, investments, and property other than the primary home) with their annual income.

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

What doesn't count: your primary residence (a single-family unit on a lot of up to 2 acres; marketable land beyond that counts), plus appliances, family vehicles and other personal effects suited to a reasonable mode of life. Your home stays excluded even after a move into a nursing home.

The 3-Year Look-Back Rule

The VA reviews any assets you transferred for less than fair market value in the three years before you file your claim, the 36-month look-back set under federal rule 38 CFR 3.276. 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. Putting money into an annuity, a trust, or another investment that lowers your net worth also counts as a transfer for less than fair market value, unless you can cash out the whole balance for your own use, in which case the VA counts it as net worth. If you're thinking about transferring assets, talk to a VA-accredited attorney or an elder law attorney first. It's also worth knowing that the VA look-back is a different test from the one MassHealth uses for long-term care: for a nursing-facility resident, MassHealth looks back 60 months at transfers of resources made on or after February 8, 2006. A transfer can be fine for one program and a problem for the other.

How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Massachusetts

The steps below are the pension route, which is VA's own framing: you may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension. Aid and Attendance can also be added to monthly compensation, so a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than pension uses VA Form 21-2680 for that, not the means-tested wartime pension application in Step #3.

Step #1: File an intent to file, if you're still gathering information. Submitting VA Form 21-0966 (Intent to File) first can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive, so it protects your date while you collect records.

Step #2: Get a medical examination. A medical examiner fills out the examination information section of VA Form 21-2680 (Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance), documenting which daily activities you need help with and why. Be thorough. The more detail about specific limitations, the stronger the claim.

Step #3: Complete the pension application. If you are a wartime veteran pursuing the pension route and you're not already receiving a VA pension, submit VA Form 21P-527EZ (Application for Veterans Pension), the means-tested form a wartime veteran uses to file a pension claim. It covers your service history, income, net worth, and medical conditions.

Step #4: Submit everything. You can file online at va.gov, by mail to the VA Pension Intake Center, or in person at a VA regional office. An accredited attorney, accredited claims agent, or accredited Veterans Service Organization representative can also help you file.

Step #5: Wait for a decision. Asked how long a decision takes, VA's answer is "It depends." It processes claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing.

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 Massachusetts: Your Town's Veterans' Service Officer

You don't have to file this claim alone, and you should never pay anyone to file an initial VA claim. Your town's Veterans' Service Officer handles state benefits like Chapter 115; for the federal claim, the help comes from a VA-accredited representative.

Every City and Town Has a Veterans' Service Officer

Massachusetts law requires its cities and towns to maintain a veterans' services department, so every community is served by a Veterans' Service Officer (VSO). Adjoining towns can form a district and share one director, so your officer may cover several communities. Among their roles, these municipal officers take applications for state veterans' benefits, including Chapter 115 financial benefits and the annuity program, run outreach and education about benefits and services, refer veterans and their dependents to the programs that fit, and help with accessing employment assistance through career centers. To reach the officer serving your community, use the state's "Find Your Local Veterans Service Officer" tool, which is searchable by city, town, or Zip Code. The state's pages don't say whether a given town officer is VA-accredited to prepare a federal claim, so ask when you call.

For the federal Aid and Attendance claim itself, an accredited attorney, an accredited claims agent, or an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative can help you file.

The Executive Office of Veterans Services (EOVS)

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services (EOVS) is the state agency that oversees benefits and advocacy for Massachusetts veterans, working alongside the federal VA and local offices. Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll established EOVS on March 1, 2023, under 2022 legislation that elevated the former Department of Veterans' Services to a cabinet-level secretariat. EOVS administers the state's Chapter 115 program, oversees the state Veterans' Homes, and can point you to the VSO for your town. You can reach EOVS at (617) 210-5480.

The Massachusetts Veterans' Homes

Massachusetts runs two state Veterans Homes, in Chelsea and Holyoke. Both are state-funded, fully accredited long-term health care facilities offering eligible veterans health care, hospice care, full-time residential accommodations, and an on-site dental clinic. The Chelsea home, established in 1882, offers residential and long-term care programs, and the Holyoke home, established in 1952, is a long-term health care facility. A replacement Holyoke home is under construction: at the 2023 groundbreaking the state said it will hold 234 long-term care beds, upgraded clinical spaces, a 30-bed memory care floor, and a 40-person adult day health program, with completion expected by late 2026 and site restoration anticipated by summer 2028. The state's eligibility page says you must be a Massachusetts resident when you apply, be medically and behaviorally suitable for placement in a long-term nursing care facility, and meet the definition of a veteran under Massachusetts law. The statute is stricter: five continuous years of Massachusetts residence right before applying, proved by the veteran, so a parent who just moved here may not qualify. Confirm the test with the home. For a veteran weighing nursing care, an A&A award can help cover costs whether they stay at home, move to assisted living, or enter one of these homes.

A Note on Massachusetts' Veteran Population

Massachusetts had an estimated 264,411 veterans in 2024, according to the Office of the Veteran Advocate's FY2025 annual report, which draws on a VA projection model, and 63.0% of them were 60 or older. That count uses the broader federal definition of a veteran, so fewer people meet Massachusetts' own definition.

A word of caution: no one may lawfully charge you for preparing or filing an initial VA claim, and VA-recognized Veterans Service Organizations always help free. Accredited attorneys and claims agents can generally charge only after VA decides the claim, for work such as an appeal.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Chapter 115 and MassHealth

Two other programs sit alongside Aid and Attendance for Massachusetts veterans: the state's own Chapter 115 benefit and MassHealth, the state Medicaid program. They count money differently from the VA and from each other.

Chapter 115: The Massachusetts Difference

Chapter 115 (Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 115) is a means-tested program that gives eligible veterans and their families financial support for food, shelter, clothing, fuel, and medical care. The Executive Office of Veterans Services administers the financial, medical, and dental assistance, and you apply by calling the Veterans' Service Officer in your town or city; if you can't reach the local officer, EOVS takes calls directly at (617) 210-5480.

The two benefits interact through income. Chapter 115 estimates a benefit from veteran status, family status, income, and housing costs, so what the household receives from a VA pension is part of that picture. In practice, an A&A award can change a Chapter 115 determination, while a low-income veteran who doesn't qualify for A&A may lean on Chapter 115 instead. One protection is built in: a veteran whose cost-of-living increase in a federal or state benefit pushes them over the Chapter 115 income threshold does not lose access to Chapter 115 for that same year.

Because the exact interaction depends on your full financial picture, this is the strongest reason to work with your VSO. The same officer takes the Chapter 115 application and can tell you how the two fit together.

MassHealth

Aid and Attendance is a VA pension administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; MassHealth is Massachusetts's Medicaid program. They are separate programs with different agencies, applications, and rules, and a veteran can receive both at the same time. Federal Medicaid rules treat VA pension income in two distinct steps.

  • At the eligibility decision, the Aid and Attendance amount generally doesn't count. A state applies SSI income methodologies to aged, blind, and disabled applicants (42 CFR 435.601), and under SSI methodology VA aid and attendance and housebound allowances are not income (SSA POMS SI 00830.308), so it is the basic VA pension, not the Aid and Attendance amount, that counts toward the income limit. MassHealth's own rule, 130 CMR 520.015, excludes veterans' aid and attendance and housebound benefits from the income it considers for financial eligibility. Confirm the treatment with MassHealth before relying on it.
  • After eligibility, the federal rule brings it back in. For someone already eligible and living in a medical institution, income disregarded at eligibility must be considered in the share-of-cost calculation (42 CFR 435.725 and 435.832), so a full-rate Aid and Attendance amount is considered there, after deductions: a personal needs allowance (federal floor $30 a month; a state may protect more), maintenance for a spouse or family at home, unpaid medical costs such as insurance premiums, and any SSI or state supplement. MassHealth calls the result the patient-paid amount owed to the facility, with deductions set at 130 CMR 520.026. MassHealth's rules we checked don't settle how it treats a full-rate amount there, so a family still receiving the full pension (a veteran with a spouse or child, say) should confirm that, and the deduction amounts, with MassHealth. One more federal rule matters: if Medicaid covers nursing-facility care for a veteran with no spouse or child, or a surviving spouse with no child, VA pension drops to at most $90 a month after the month of admission. That amount isn't income, and it may not reduce what Medicaid pays the nursing facility. The cap doesn't apply in a State home where VA pays a nursing-care per diem, so check a Massachusetts Veterans' Home stay with an accredited Veterans Service Officer.
  • MassHealth long-term care has its own rules. MassHealth offers long-term-care services either in a medical institution or at home through Home- and Community-based Services Waivers. The share-of-cost rule above covers institution residents, not waiver recipients; ask MassHealth which rule applies at home. On the VA side, unreimbursed medical expenses above 5% of the MAPR come off your income before VA tests it against the net worth limit, and VA applies its own income and net worth rules.
  • Timing matters. Because the two programs count income and assets differently, the order and timing of applying can matter, so talk to a VA-accredited representative or an elder law attorney first.

For the bigger picture of paying for long-term care in the state, see our guide to how to pay for senior care in Massachusetts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does VA Aid and Attendance pay in Massachusetts in 2026?

The maximum depends on your situation: up to $29,093 a year for a veteran alone, $34,488 a year for a veteran with a spouse, and $18,697 a year for a surviving spouse, paid monthly at one-twelfth of the annual award, rounded down. Your actual payment is reduced by your countable income, and unreimbursed medical expenses above 5% of your MAPR can lower that income and raise your benefit.

Can I get Aid and Attendance and Massachusetts Chapter 115 benefits at the same time?

Chapter 115 estimates a benefit from veteran status, family status, income, and housing costs, so a VA pension with Aid and Attendance is part of what the state looks at. The two can overlap, but an A&A award can change a Chapter 115 determination. Your local Veterans' Service Officer takes the Chapter 115 application and can explain how the two fit together.

Where can I get free help applying in Massachusetts?

Start with the Veterans' Service Officer for your city or town. Every Massachusetts community is served by one, sometimes through a district office shared with neighboring towns, and the state's "Find Your Local Veterans Service Officer" tool is searchable by city, town, or Zip Code. You can also reach the Executive Office of Veterans Services at (617) 210-5480. For the federal claim itself, an accredited attorney, an accredited claims agent, or an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative can help you file. VA-recognized Veterans Service Organizations help free, and you should never pay anyone to file an initial claim.

How long does it take to get approved?

VA's own answer is "It depends." It works through claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing. What you can control is the file, so have the medical examiner be detailed on VA Form 21-2680 and submit all supporting documents at once.

If the veteran owns their home, there is a second Massachusetts benefit worth checking. The state's Clause 22 exemptions are decided by your local board of assessors rather than by the VA, and you file an application with the assessors in your city or town for each fiscal year. Our guide to the Massachusetts disabled veteran property tax exemption covers who qualifies and what a surviving spouse keeps.

Learn More

MedicareMedicare Plans and Coverage in MassachusettsMedicare in Massachusetts for 2026: Part A, Part B, Medicare Advantage, Part D, the state's own Medigap plans and their rules, plus how to get help paying. FinancialHow to Pay for Senior Care in MassachusettsHow to pay for senior care in Massachusetts in 2026: what it costs, Medicare's limits, MassHealth long-term care, the Frail Elder Waiver, SCO, and VA benefits. MedicaidMassachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth): The Brevy Pillar GuideMassachusetts MassHealth explained: 1634 + medically-needy state, $2,000 asset limit, $72.80 PNA, 100% spousal share to $162,660, Chapter 197 estate recovery. MedicaidMassachusetts Medicaid SCO and One CareMassachusetts Medicaid SCO and One Care changed on 1/1/2026: SCO now requires Medicare Part A and B, and One Care moved to a D-SNP platform. Plans and steps.

Find personalized help applying for VA Aid and Attendance in Massachusetts 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.

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