VA Aid and Attendance can help a Michigan veteran or surviving spouse pay for in-home care in Michigan, turning a benefit many families overlook into real money toward an aide at home. If your loved one needs help with daily activities and would rather stay in their own house than move to a facility, this monthly payment can cover a meaningful share of the cost.

This guide explains what in-home care costs in Michigan, how much Aid and Attendance pays, how your care bills can actually lower the income the VA counts against you, who qualifies, and how to get free help applying.

In This Guide

How Much In-Home Care Costs in Michigan

In-home care is what lets many Michigan seniors stay in the home they know. But it adds up.

According to the CareScout 2025 Cost of Care Survey, released in March 2026, the median cost of a non-medical caregiver in Michigan was about $6,626 per month, roughly $79,508 a year and about $35 per hour. Beginning with the 2025 survey, CareScout merged the former "homemaker" and "home health aide" categories into a single "non-medical caregiver" rate, since most home-care agencies now charge the same for both. That Michigan figure sits essentially on par with the national non-medical caregiver median of about $80,080 a year.

Those figures assume 44 hours of care a week. Many families need less, and many need more, so your actual bill depends on how many hours of help your loved one needs. Skilled (medical) home health care is billed separately and is often covered by Medicare or Medicaid when it is medically necessary, so the cost families usually pay out of pocket is for non-medical home care. That is exactly the kind of cost Aid and Attendance is built to offset.

How VA Aid and Attendance Helps Pay for In-Home Care in Michigan

Aid and Attendance is an increase to the VA pension for veterans and surviving spouses who need help with everyday activities. It is paid as cash each month, and there are no rules requiring you to spend it on a particular type of care. The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency describes Veterans Pension benefits as tax-free monetary benefits payable to low-income wartime veterans. You can put the money straight toward an in-home aide.

Here are the 2026 maximum pension rates at the Aid and Attendance level.

Category Maximum Annual Rate Monthly Equivalent
Veteran alone Up to $29,093 About $2,424
Veteran with one dependent Up to $34,488 About $2,874
Surviving spouse Up to $18,697 About $1,558

The VA publishes these as annual amounts only. A monthly payment is the yearly award divided by 12.

Set that against the roughly $6,626 a month a Michigan non-medical caregiver costs, and the benefit covers a substantial part of the bill, often more if your loved one needs fewer than full-time hours. For a surviving spouse paying for part-time help, about $1,558 a month can cover a large share of the care.

How In-Home Care Costs Lower Your Countable Income

The VA pension is needs-based: to be eligible, your yearly family income and net worth have to meet limits set by Congress. What decides the claim is the income the VA counts, which is not simply what lands in the bank each month.

This is where in-home care helps in a second way. Under the VA's rule for in-home attendant care, the attendant must be a health care provider unless the person needs aid and attendance or is housebound, or unless a physician, physician assistant, certified nurse practitioner, or clinical nurse specialist states in writing that a physical, mental, developmental, or cognitive disorder means the person requires the health care or custodial care the attendant provides. Those unreimbursed care costs then come off the income the VA counts. But only the portion above 5% of the applicable MAPR is deductible, and that 5% is figured on the pension rate excluding the Aid and Attendance increase.

For 2026, that floor is $872 per year for a veteran with no spouse or child, and it rises for a veteran with dependents. Everything you pay above that floor over the year reduces the income the VA counts.

Picture a veteran paying $20,000 a year for an in-home aide. Subtract the $872 floor, and about $19,128 of those care costs come off countable income for the year. For a family whose income looked too high to qualify, that single deduction can be what brings them under the limit, because large recurring care bills can reduce or even zero out countable income. The care your loved one already needs does double duty: it is the reason for the benefit and the thing that helps them qualify.

Who Qualifies

Aid and Attendance does not require a service-connected disability. To qualify, a veteran must:

  • Have served during a wartime period, for long enough to qualify. How long depends on when the veteran entered active duty, not on which war they served in: a veteran who started active duty before September 8, 1980 needs at least 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a wartime period; a veteran who started active duty as an enlisted person after September 7, 1980 generally needs at least 24 months, or the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty (with some exceptions), again with at least one day during wartime; and an officer who started active duty after October 16, 1981 qualifies under this branch only if they had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months. The recognized wartime periods include World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, and the Gulf War (August 2, 1990 through a future date to be set by law or presidential proclamation).
  • Have no dishonorable discharge, and 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 on its own, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI qualifies here with no adjudicated disability rating at all.
  • Have a net worth under $163,699 for 2026, which counts assets and annual income but excludes the primary residence, the car, and basic home items.
  • Need another person's regular help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, or feeding; or need care or assistance on a regular basis to stay safe from the hazards of daily life; or be bedridden; or be a patient in a nursing home because of a loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability; or have eyesight of 5/200 or less in both eyes, or a visual field contracted to 5 degrees or less.

The VA applies a 3-year look-back on assets transferred for less than fair market value, with a penalty period that can reach 5 years. Surviving spouses can qualify under the Survivors Pension with the same net worth limit.

Using VA Aid and Attendance to Pay a Family Caregiver for In-Home Care in Michigan

Many Michigan families want the person giving care to be a son, daughter, or spouse rather than a stranger. Aid and Attendance is paid directly to the veteran or surviving spouse, so the household can choose to use it to pay a family member who provides their care. One limit to know: unlike the program below, the VA Pension and its Aid and Attendance increase do not allow paying a spouse for that care.

There is also a separate VA program built for this. Veteran-Directed Care (VDC) is a VA Geriatrics and Extended Care program, separate from the VA Pension and Aid and Attendance, that gives an enrolled veteran a flexible budget, managed by the veteran or their representative, to hire and supervise their own workers so they can keep living at home. Veterans may hire family, friends, and neighbors, including a spouse; unlike the Aid and Attendance benefit, VDC carries no prohibition on paying a spouse. A financial management services provider helps the veteran handle the employer responsibilities of being the hiring party, and a person-centered options counselor at an Aging and Disability Network Agency, such as an Area Agency on Aging, works through the plan with them.

All enrolled veterans are eligible for VDC if they are eligible for community care, meet the clinical criteria for the service, and the program is available. Ask your local VA medical center's social work team whether VDC is offered in your area.

How Aid and Attendance Works with Michigan Medicaid

VA Aid and Attendance and Michigan Medicaid, run by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), are separate programs with different agencies, applications, and rules, and a veteran or surviving spouse can often receive both at the same time.

They count money differently. For the VA pension, unreimbursed care costs can be deducted to lower countable income. Michigan Medicaid applies its own income and asset tests for long-term-care eligibility, and it handles VA pension income in two separate steps. At the eligibility stage, a state applying SSI income methodology does not count the Aid and Attendance allowance, so generally only the basic pension counts toward the income limit; a state using eligibility criteria more restrictive than SSI may count it, so confirm the treatment for your case with MDHHS. Once someone is eligible, income that was disregarded at eligibility must be counted again, so the Aid and Attendance amount does raise the share of income a person owes toward care. The federal rule behind that step, 42 CFR 435.725, says by its own terms that it "applies to the following individuals in medical institutions and intermediate care facilities," so if your care comes through a home and community-based waiver instead, you still have a post-eligibility calculation, but ask MDHHS which rule sets it rather than assuming this one does. Counting the income is also not the end of the math. Before any of it goes toward care, 42 CFR 435.725(c) requires the agency to deduct five amounts in a fixed order: (1) a personal needs allowance, (2) a maintenance needs allowance for a spouse still at home, (3) a maintenance needs allowance for other family at home, (4) incurred expenses for medical or remedial care that no third party pays, and (5) any SSI and state supplement payments that continue. All five are deductions MDHHS must make, not benefits you apply for, so do not budget as though medical expenses are the only thing that comes off. For someone in long-term care for a full month, Michigan sets that personal needs allowance, which MDHHS calls the patient allowance, at $60, with an exception of $90 a month for a veteran receiving the VA improved pension, in place of the $60 rather than on top of it.

Because the two programs interact, the order and timing of applying for each can matter. Talk to a VA-accredited representative or an elder law attorney before you file, so a benefit in one program does not unintentionally cost you in the other.

How to Apply and Get Free Help

Form 21-2680 is used to apply for Aid and Attendance benefits that will be added to your monthly compensation or pension benefits, so it serves veterans on either route. The steps below are the pension route, the one this guide is about: the VA's condition is that you may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension.

  • 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, documenting the need for help.
  • VA Form 21P-527EZ, the Application for Veterans Pension, if the veteran is a wartime veteran pursuing the pension route and is not already receiving a VA pension. This is the means-tested wartime pension application, so a veteran whose Aid and Attendance would be added to VA disability compensation rather than to a pension is on the compensation route and does not file it.
  • VA Form 21-0966, the Intent to File, if you are still gathering information. Submitting an intent to file can secure the earliest possible effective date for any retroactive payments you may be eligible to receive, so it is worth sending first while you wait on the examiner.

You can file online at VA.gov, by mail to the VA Pension Intake Center, in person at a VA regional office, or with help from an accredited attorney, accredited claims agent, or accredited Veterans Service Organization representative. Asked how long a decision takes, the VA's answer is "It depends." It processes claims in the order it receives them, unless a claim requires priority processing. Apply as soon as the care need is clear; you can apply while your loved one is already receiving care.

Do not do this alone, and never pay to file an initial claim. The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA) works to connect veterans and their families with the resources and benefits they earned through service. For help determining pension eligibility and completing the application, MVAA tells veterans to contact their local Veteran Service Officer or call MVAA at 1-800-642-4838, where technicians answer Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That call connects you with an accredited Veteran Service Officer who can help prepare the necessary forms, document the claim, and manage it through submission, and the VA says an accredited VSO representative's services on your VA benefit claims are always free, while an accredited attorney or claims agent can charge fees.

Ask that officer about Michigan's disabled veteran property tax exemption on the same visit. A veteran being cared for at home still owns and occupies the homestead the exemption is built around, and our guide to the Michigan disabled veteran property tax exemption explains the three qualifying paths and the affidavit you file with the local assessor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Aid and Attendance be used to pay for in-home care in Michigan?

Yes. Aid and Attendance is paid as cash to the veteran or surviving spouse, and there is no rule limiting how it is spent. Families commonly use it to pay for an in-home aide, which in Michigan runs about $79,508 a year, or roughly $6,626 a month, for a non-medical caregiver.

How much does Aid and Attendance pay a Michigan veteran for home care?

In 2026 the maximum annual pension at the Aid and Attendance level is $29,093 for a veteran alone, $34,488 for a veteran with one dependent, and $18,697 for a surviving spouse. Divide by 12 for the monthly payment, which works out to about $2,424, $2,874, and $1,558. The exact amount depends on the income the VA counts, which unreimbursed medical expenses can lower.

Does paying for home care help a veteran qualify?

It can. Unreimbursed in-home care costs above 5% of the applicable pension rate (the rate that excludes the Aid and Attendance increase) come off the income the VA counts; that floor is $872 per year for a veteran with no spouse or child in 2026, and higher for a veteran with dependents. Large care bills can reduce or even zero out countable income, which can bring a family that looked over the limit under it.

Can a veteran get both Aid and Attendance and Michigan Medicaid?

Often, yes. They are separate programs run by different agencies, so a veteran or surviving spouse can frequently receive both at once. Generally only the basic VA pension counts toward Michigan Medicaid's income limit at the eligibility stage, while the Aid and Attendance amount counts toward the share of income owed toward care once someone is eligible. Before MDHHS sets that share, it must deduct five amounts in a fixed order, beginning with a personal needs allowance and a maintenance needs allowance for a spouse still at home; incurred medical expenses are only the fourth of the five, so they are not the only thing that comes off. Because the timing of applications can matter, have a VA-accredited representative or elder law attorney review your case first.

What if the Aid and Attendance claim is denied?

After an initial denial you have three decision review options: a Supplemental Claim filing new and relevant evidence the VA did not have before, a Higher-Level Review in which a higher-level reviewer looks at the case with no new evidence submitted, or a Board Appeal to the Board of Veterans' Appeals for review by a Veterans Law Judge. For most VA benefits, a Higher-Level Review or a Board Appeal has to be elected within one year of the date the VA issues notice of its decision. Some VA benefits carry time limits shorter than a year, so check your decision letter, which states the deadline that governs your case. A Supplemental Claim can be filed at any time after that notice, but one the VA receives more than a year after the date on the decision notice takes an effective date no earlier than the day it arrives, and continuous pursuit of the claim is broken unless the VA grants an extension of the one-year period for good cause. In plain terms, filing after the one-year mark can cost back pay running all the way to the original claim date, so file inside the year even though the door stays open. An accredited VSO representative can prepare and file the review for free.

Compare Care Settings in Michigan

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

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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.

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