Nebraska State Veterans Homes: Who Qualifies, Cost, and the Wait

If your dad can no longer live safely at home, a Nebraska state veterans home asks each member to contribute $0 to $5,549 a month as of 2026, based on income and assets. The Nebraska Department of Veterans' Affairs (NDVA) sets that contribution on a sliding scale and runs four Nebraska Veterans' Homes, in Kearney, Bellevue, Norfolk and Scottsbluff, offering assisted living, skilled nursing and memory care.1

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a Nebraska Veterans' Home Is
• The Four Nebraska Veterans' Homes
• Who Can Live in a Nebraska Veterans' Home?
• How to Apply, and What Happens Next
• How Long Is the Line at Each Home?
• What a Nebraska Veterans' Home Costs
• When VA Pays the Whole Bill
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What a Nebraska Veterans' Home Is

A State Veterans Home is owned and run by a state government, not by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA must recognize and certify each State Veterans Home, surveys it every year, and pays the state a per diem toward the care of eligible veterans, while each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules.2

Nebraska's four homes exist by statute. Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-315 establishes the Central Nebraska Veterans' Home, the Norfolk Veterans' Home, the Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home and the Western Nebraska Veterans' Home, and requires the State of Nebraska to maintain them.3 NDVA operates all four.1 Our national guide to State Veterans Homes shows how the program works in every state.

The Four Nebraska Veterans' Homes

Most families start with geography: which home can you actually visit on a Tuesday evening? Each home's NDVA page states its own size, care and admissions number, and NDVA's list of approved applications dated September 18, 2026 shows how many applications were waiting at each.3,4

A few details set the homes apart:

• Central Nebraska Veterans' Home, Kearney (4510 E 56th Street) is the newest, opened January 16, 2019, and is built as six neighborhoods, each with three homes serving 12 to 15 members.3
• Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home, Bellevue (12505 Harrison Tull Dr) splits its 144 licensed beds into three 30-bed skilled nursing wings, 24 assisted living beds and 30 beds for skilled dementia care, and has a State Veterans Service Officer on site to help members and families apply for state and federal veteran benefits.3
• Norfolk Veterans' Home, Norfolk (600 East Benjamin Avenue) has been in its current location since November 27, 2001.3
• Western Nebraska Veterans' Home, Scottsbluff (1102 West 42nd Street) sits on 32 acres at the northern edge of town and has several double rooms for married couples.3

Every Nebraska Veterans' Home offers physical, occupational, speech and restorative nursing therapy, plus hospice and palliative care.1

Who Can Live in a Nebraska Veterans' Home?

Families often hear "spouses are eligible too" and stop there. The details matter, because the law treats the veteran, a living spouse, and a widow or Gold Star parent differently. The governing statute is Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-316.1

The veteran

NDVA says a veteran who served on active duty with an honorable or general discharge, or a member of the Nebraska National Guard with active duty for training, is eligible for a Nebraska Veterans' Home after living in Nebraska at least two years during his or her lifetime.1

Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-316 is more precise in two ways:1

• Service: federal service made up only of active duty for training doesn't qualify under 80-316, while Nebraska National Guard active duty for training does.
• Residency and need: at the time of application, 80-316 requires the veteran to have been a bona fide resident of Nebraska for at least two years and to need long-term care available at one of the Nebraska veterans homes.

NDVA's "during their lifetime" wording and the statute's residency-at-application test aren't the same, and where they differ the statute is the law. If your parent's Nebraska years were long ago, ask the home or a County Veterans Service Officer before you count on either reading.1

A living spouse

Mom may not qualify on her own. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-316, a spouse qualifies for a Nebraska Veterans' Home only as the spouse of a member already admitted to one of the homes, and only if the couple had been married at least two years before that member's entrance.1 So the veteran has to be admitted first.

A widow, widower or Gold Star parent

Under Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-316, surviving spouses and parents of servicemembers who died in service or later died of a service-connected disability, and surviving spouses of eligible servicemembers who have since died, may be admitted to a Nebraska Veterans' Home only if, at the time of applying, they have been bona fide Nebraska residents for at least two years and are unable to earn a livelihood.1 A widow who still works may not meet that second condition, so ask before you apply.

How to Apply, and What Happens Next

There are three doors into a Nebraska Veterans' Home, and they all lead to the same board.1,4

If you're filing directly with a home, call its admission inquiries line from the table above.3

How Long Is the Line at Each Home?

This is the question every family asks, and NDVA publishes a partial answer: its list of approved applications, whose September 18, 2026 counts appear in the table above.4

What the table can't show at a glance is how crowded each list is for its size. On NDVA's September 18, 2026 list, the Eastern Nebraska Veterans' Home in Bellevue had 141 approved applications for 144 licensed beds, nearly one per bed, while the Western Nebraska Veterans' Home in Scottsbluff had 32 approved applications for 109 licensed beds, under a third of its size.4 If your family could manage visits to Scottsbluff or Norfolk, those shorter lists are worth a look.

NDVA's approved-applications list also sorts applicants by status. It defines "assessment pending" as a new application with the level of care still tentative, "admission pending" as a finished assessment with the level of care set while the home waits on records or a background check, and "admission scheduled" as an actual admit date.4

NDVA's list doesn't say how many weeks or months anyone waits, so treat the counts as a comparison between homes, not a timeline. Each home's page links the current list.3

What a Nebraska Veterans' Home Costs

Money is usually where the worry sits, so start with the floor: NDVA's scale begins at $0. As of 2026, NDVA sets a member's contribution to the cost of care in a Nebraska Veterans' Home on a sliding scale based on income and/or assets, running from $0 to $5,549 per month.1

Nebraska law explains who pays at all. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-322, any veteran, spouse, surviving spouse or parent admitted to a Nebraska Veterans' Home with income over $40 a month, or with sufficient assets, must reimburse the state monthly a reasonable amount for his or her maintenance, and the Veterans' Homes Board sets that amount.5 Income for this Nebraska rule includes federal pension, compensation and Social Security.5 In practice, the $40 line under Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-322 is low enough that a parent whose Social Security check or VA pension tops $40 a month should expect to pay the Nebraska Veterans' Home something each month, in an amount the Veterans' Homes Board sets, unless the veteran is one of those for whom VA pays the whole bill (see When VA Pays the Whole Bill below).5

Nebraska law also leaves the door open the other way. Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-321 keeps the privilege of paying all or part of the cost of care for a member who wants to, or whose finances the Veterans' Homes Board decides no longer justify care at public expense.5 For a family with savings, assets count as well as income: under Neb. Rev. Stat. 80-322, a Nebraska Veterans' Home member with sufficient assets owes a monthly reimbursement even on a small income.5

For each eligible veteran member, VA pays the state too. Under VA's State Veterans Home per diem, VA pays the lesser of half the daily cost of the veteran's care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year, and federal law caps those payments at half the cost of that veteran's care.6 VA does not pay for the care of non-veterans, so a spouse or Gold Star parent in a State Veterans Home brings no VA per diem.2 For your family, the VA per diem is money VA pays to the State of Nebraska toward a veteran's care, not a check to you, and it doesn't cover Mom if she moves in beside Dad.2

If your parent already receives Aid and Attendance, our guide to Aid and Attendance in a Nebraska nursing home explains how that benefit works once a veteran moves into nursing care.

When VA Pays the Whole Bill

For some veterans, a Nebraska Veterans' Home costs the family nothing. NDVA says a veteran rated 70% to 100% service-connected may receive care at no cost, and may not owe a member contribution once the rating is verified and the veteran's required level of care meets VA criteria.1

The federal rule behind that line is broader than the rating alone. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA's payment to a State Veterans Home under a State home care agreement is payment in full for the nursing home care of a veteran who needs that care for a service-connected disability, a veteran rated 70% or more service-connected who needs nursing home care, or a veteran with a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care, and the home may not charge the veteran or anyone other than VA for that care.6 VA's payment-in-full rule covers nursing home care, so ask the Nebraska Veterans' Home how a 70% rating affects the charge for assisted living.6

A pending VA claim is worth pushing. Under 38 CFR 51.41, if VA grants a retroactive service-connected rating that brings a veteran under the payment-in-full rule, the State Veterans Home can request payment back to the rating's effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later.6 Our guide to VA benefits for senior care in Nebraska covers the claims help available in the state.

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and applying to a Nebraska Veterans' Home 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.