New Jersey Veterans Homes: Eligibility, Cost, How to Apply

A New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home bases a resident's monthly fee on 80 percent of net income under state rules, and none of the three homes takes Medicaid.1,2 If Dad needs round-the-clock care and you're weighing Paramus, Menlo Park or Vineland, those two facts shape everything else: who can get in, what the family will pay, and how VA helps.3

In This Guide

• New Jersey's Three Veterans Memorial Homes
• Who Can Get Into a New Jersey Veterans Home
• What a New Jersey Veterans Home Costs
• Medicaid, Medicare and Other Insurance
• How VA Helps Pay a New Jersey Veterans Home
• How to Apply, Step by Step
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

New Jersey's Three Veterans Memorial Homes

It helps to know from the start that New Jersey has only three state veterans homes, one in the north, one in the center and one in the south. Under VA's State Veterans Home program, homes like these are owned and run by the state, not by VA, and VA certifies each one and surveys it every year.3 VA also leaves each state to set its own eligibility and admission rules, which is why New Jersey's rules below are the ones that count.3

The addresses and main numbers come from the New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs' Application for Admission, which lists where to mail an application for each New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home.4 The admissions numbers are the ones each home gives on its own admissions page, and tours at all three New Jersey homes are by appointment.2 For a wider look at the VA benefits a New Jersey veteran can use for care, including how these homes fit, see VA benefits you can use for senior care in New Jersey.

Who Can Get Into a New Jersey Veterans Home

If your parent served and has lived in New Jersey for years, the basic eligibility question is usually easy. The harder questions are about the level of care and, for a spouse, the marriage itself.

Who is eligible

The Paramus and Menlo Park admissions pages say the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Homes are open to veterans who were honorably discharged from U.S. war or peacetime service, the veteran's spouse, and Gold Star Parents (parents and spouses of service members killed in action during a period of war).2 The New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs' application form asks for proof of "an other than dishonorable discharge," so a family whose veteran has a general discharge should call the admissions office before ruling a New Jersey home out.4

Spouses and widows

At all three New Jersey Veterans Memorial Homes, a spouse, widow or widower must be at least 50 years old and must have been married to the veteran for at least 10 years.2 The Vineland home's admissions page adds that a divorced spouse is not eligible.2

The level of care required

Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-2.1, New Jersey denies admission to a Veterans Memorial Home applicant who does not require 24-hour skilled nursing care.1 N.J.A.C. 5A:5-2.1 also bars admission to a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home for applicants whose care needs are beyond what the home can meet, applicants with active substance abuse, active psychiatric problems or behavior that may endanger themselves or others, applicants who won't sign the Admission Agreement, and a dependent child.1

Who goes first

N.J.A.C. 5A:5-2.1 ranks applicants for a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in this order:1

1. A New Jersey veteran who meets the state's residency requirement.
2. The spouse or surviving spouse of a New Jersey veteran, if the spouse lives in New Jersey.
3. Gold Star parents.
4. A veteran who does not live in New Jersey.

Under that same New Jersey rule, non-veterans may make up no more than 25 percent of a Veterans Memorial Home's residents.1 The Paramus and Menlo Park admissions pages also give preference to veteran applicants who have lived in New Jersey for at least two years right before applying, and the New Jersey application form confirms out-of-state applicants may still apply.2,4 Admission to a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home also depends on the home's admission committee deciding it can meet your veteran's health care needs, and on a bed being available.1

What a New Jersey Veterans Home Costs

This is usually the question keeping families up at night, and the honest answer is better than many people expect: a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home ties the monthly charge to what your veteran can afford. The admissions pages put it simply, "Residents pay according to ability based on income," and N.J.A.C. 5A:5 supplies the formula.2,1

How the monthly fee is set

Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-5.1 and 5-5.2, a single New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home resident pays 80 percent of net income, where net income is total gross income minus allowable deductions such as the personal needs allowance, health insurance premiums, a prepaid burial fund up to $12,000 face value and court-ordered payments.1 N.J.A.C. 5A:5 caps a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home resident's monthly fee at the rate the state sets each year, and the home's Admission Agreement counts every source of income, Social Security included.1

If one spouse still lives at home

For a married New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home resident, N.J.A.C. 5A:5-5.3 bases the fee on the resident's own income and allows extra deductions for the spouse still living at home, including a $400 food deduction for that community spouse.1 Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-5.3, a married New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home resident's monthly fee is 80 percent of the resident's net income after the community-spouse deductions, which leaves room for the household your mother or father is still running.1

The welfare fund fee

Each New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home resident also pays $20 or 12 percent of the balance of monthly income, whichever is less, into the home's welfare fund.1

If savings are above the limit

Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-2.1, a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home applicant's countable assets must be spent down to $24,000 for a single applicant, or $110,000 for a married couple, before the income-based fee applies.1 Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-5.4, a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home applicant with countable assets above $24,000 (single) or $110,000 (married) can still be admitted when a bed is available, but pays the full cost of care until savings fall to that limit.1

Gifts and trusts

N.J.A.C. 5A:5 treats a trust or a transfer of assets made within 36 months before a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home application as a countable asset for the rest of that 36-month period.1 If someone has suggested moving Mom's savings to the kids first, talk to an elder law attorney before you do it.

What changes after move-in

A New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home recalculates the fee every year from tax returns and financial statements, raises it in step with the yearly Social Security increase, and requires residents to report selling a house or gaining assets at that annual review.1 Under N.J.A.C. 5A:5-5.4, the resident still pays for services the home doesn't provide, such as transportation, hospital stays and outside doctors, and keeps paying the monthly fee during a stay in another facility to hold the bed.1

Medicaid, Medicare and Other Insurance

Many families assume Medicaid will step in once savings run low. At a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home it won't: the Paramus and Menlo Park homes each say they do not participate in the Medicaid program, and Vineland says it does not participate in the NJ Medicaid program.2 All three New Jersey homes also say they are not in network with any Medicare Advantage plan.2

What the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Homes recommend instead is Medicare Parts A and B plus secondary insurance, and Medicare Part D or other prescription coverage; Vineland's page adds "required if eligible."2 If your veteran is on a Medicare Advantage plan today, ask the home's admissions office how that plan would work with a stay before you apply.

If your family expects to rely on Medicaid for nursing home care, a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home is a different path. Our guide to New Jersey Medicaid and nursing home care covers that route.

How VA Helps Pay a New Jersey Veterans Home

VA doesn't run New Jersey's homes, but it does send money to them, and for some veterans that money changes the bill completely.

If your veteran has a qualifying service-connected rating

Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and VA's regulation at 38 CFR 51.41, for a veteran who needs nursing home care and is rated 70% or more service-connected, has a total disability rating based on individual unemployability (TDIU), or needs that care for a service-connected disability, VA's payment to the State Veterans Home is payment in full for that nursing home care, and the State home may not charge anyone other than VA for that care.5 N.J.A.C. 5A:5 also says New Jersey considers service-connected disability status when it computes a Veterans Memorial Home resident's annual fee.1

If a VA disability compensation rating comes through after your veteran has moved in, 38 CFR 51.41 lets the State home ask VA for payment back to the rating's retroactive effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later.5 That's a good reason to keep a pending claim moving.

For other eligible veterans

Under VA's per diem rules for State Veterans Homes, VA pays the state a basic per diem for each day an eligible veteran is in a State home, at the lesser of half the daily cost of care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year.5 VA says it does not pay for the care of non-veterans in State Veterans Homes, so VA's State Veterans Home payments don't cover a non-veteran spouse's care in a New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home.3

If your veteran may also qualify for VA Aid and Attendance through VA pension, our guide to how Aid and Attendance helps pay for a nursing home in New Jersey explains that benefit.

How to Apply, Step by Step

The application is long, and it's normal to feel buried by it. It moves faster if one person gathers the papers and the doctor gets the medical pages early.

Applying to Vineland? The Vineland Veterans Memorial Home lists more documents up front, including a marriage certificate, the spouse's death certificate where it applies, a birth certificate, the DD 214, Medicare and insurance cards, 36 months of bank and investment statements, three years of federal and state tax returns, any power of attorney, living will or guardianship papers, VA Form 10-10EZ for VA health care, and funeral arrangement documents.2 Vineland also says approved applicants go on a Qualified Admissions List and are admitted in date order from that list.2

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and paying for a New Jersey 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.