VA Aid and Attendance in Ohio (2026)

For a wartime veteran in Ohio with a spouse, VA Aid and Attendance can raise the pension ceiling to $34,488 a year in 2026.1 It's added to a VA pension for a veteran who needs another person's help with everyday tasks like bathing, feeding, or dressing, and surviving spouses can qualify through the Survivors Pension.2,1

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What Is Aid and Attendance?
• Do You Qualify?
• 2026 Aid and Attendance Rates
• The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Lookback
• How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Ohio
• Where to Get Help in Ohio: ODVS and County Veterans Service Offices
• How VA Aid and Attendance Works with Ohio Medicaid
• Frequently Asked Questions

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. Qualifying for it lifts the Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR), the ceiling Congress sets on your whole pension, from $17,441 to $29,093 a year for a veteran with no dependents.1

You may qualify if you need another person's help with daily activities. In deciding, VA looks at factors such as whether you can manage:2

• Bathing and keeping yourself clean
• Dressing and undressing
• 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, are a nursing home patient because of the loss of mental or physical abilities related to a disability, or have severely limited eyesight (even with glasses or contacts, 5/200 or less in both eyes, or a visual field contracted to 5 degrees or less).2

VA describes Aid and Attendance as monthly payments added to your monthly VA pension.2 On the pension route it isn't a second check: it replaces the basic rate with a higher Maximum Annual Pension Rate.3

Do You Qualify?

To receive Aid and Attendance, the veteran must not have received a dishonorable discharge, and you have to meet all four of these requirements.2

1. Wartime service. What decides this is when the veteran started active duty, not which war they served in. VA lists three service paths, and meeting any one of them satisfies this test. 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 recognized 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 they were called or ordered to active duty, with at least one day during wartime (with some exceptions), so a post-1980 veteran with less than 24 months is not automatically ruled out. And a veteran who started on active duty as an officer after October 16, 1981 meets the test if they had not previously served on active duty for at least 24 months, again with at least one day during wartime. Recognized wartime periods include World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War, which began August 2, 1990 and has no closing date set yet, so it takes in post-9/11 service.2

2. Age, disability, nursing home care, or SSDI/SSI. VA lists four alternatives here, and meeting any one of them satisfies this test: the veteran is at least 65 years old; has a permanent and total disability; is a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability; or is getting Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income. A permanent and total rating is not the only disability route, so a wartime veteran under 65 who receives SSI meets this test with no adjudicated rating at all.2

3. Need for assistance. The veteran or surviving spouse must need regular help with daily activities, be bedridden, be a nursing home patient because of a disability-related loss of abilities, or have severely limited eyesight, as described above.2

4. Net worth under $163,699. This is the 2026 limit. VA adds up your and your dependents' assets together with your annual income. Your primary home, your car, and basic household items don't count.1 Some disabled veterans can also get an Ohio property tax break on that home; see our guide to the Ohio disabled veteran property tax exemption.

Surviving spouses qualify too. If the veteran has passed away and the surviving spouse needs help with daily activities, they can apply for the Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance, which carries a 2026 ceiling of $18,697 a year for a surviving spouse with no dependents.1

2026 Aid and Attendance Rates

The VA calculates your payment as the difference between your countable income and the Maximum Annual Pension Rate (MAPR) for your category. The MAPR is a ceiling, not a payment: the more countable income you have, the less pension VA pays. These rates are federal, so they're the same in Ohio as anywhere else, and VA publishes them as annual amounts. Pension is paid monthly, and federal regulations set the conversion: VA subtracts your countable income from your MAPR, divides what's left by 12, and rounds down to the whole dollar.1

Here's how the math works, using made-up numbers for illustration. If a veteran with a spouse has $12,000 in annual countable income and qualifies for A&A, VA pays the difference: $34,488 minus $12,000 leaves $22,488 a year, which VA divides by 12 and pays monthly.1 Unreimbursed medical expenses, including what you pay for care, reduce your countable income and so raise your benefit, but only the part above 5% of your MAPR counts. VA puts that 5% threshold at $1,141 for a veteran with one dependent and $872 for a veteran with no spouse or child.1,6

The Net Worth Limit and 3-Year Lookback

The 2026 net worth limit is $163,699. This combines your and your dependents' assets (savings, investments, and property other than your home) with your annual income.1

What counts: the fair market value of all the real and personal property you own, minus any mortgages on it, plus your annual income. A married veteran's net worth includes the spouse's.2

What doesn't count: your primary residence, your car, and basic household goods. The excluded home includes its lot only up to 2 acres, so marketable land beyond that counts as an asset, and the home stays excluded if you move into a nursing home.1

The 3-Year Lookback Rule

The VA reviews any assets you transferred for less than fair market value in the three years (36 months) before VA receives your claim.2 If you gave away or sold assets below market value and keeping them would have put you over the net worth limit, VA can impose a penalty period of up to five years during which you won't receive pension benefits. Transfers made before October 18, 2018 aren't counted.1,2 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 VA counts it as net worth.2

If you're thinking about transferring assets, talk to a VA-accredited attorney or an elder law attorney first.

How to Apply for VA Aid and Attendance in Ohio

The steps below are the pension route. VA's condition for it is that you may be eligible for this benefit if you get a VA pension. Aid and Attendance can also be added to monthly compensation instead, and VA Form 21-2680 covers that case too, so a veteran who receives VA disability compensation rather than pension uses the exam form without the pension application.3

Documents to Gather First

VA lists what to have ready.7

• Your DD214 or other separation documents, your service treatment records, and medical evidence related to your illness or injury (or permission for VA to gather them)
• A copy of your medical records if you're under 65
• Your Social Security number and your VA file number, if you have one
• Your military, marital, and work history, and information about your dependents
• Your household's gross monthly income, the value of its assets, and your unreimbursed medical expenses
• For a Survivors Pension claim: the veteran's DD214 or other separation documents, the veteran's death certificate showing cause of death, and a marriage certificate or other evidence of the marriage VA asks for7

Where to Get Help in Ohio: ODVS and County Veterans Service Offices

You don't have to file this claim alone. Ohio law sets up a veterans service commission in every county, and its service officers advise and assist veterans and their families in presenting benefit claims.4 ODVS says these county offices help with filing and managing federal VA claims and provide their services free of charge.5

The Ohio Department of Veterans Services (ODVS)

The Ohio Department of Veterans Services, known as ODVS, is a state agency. It maintains a working relationship with the federal VA but is not directly affiliated with the VA or its operations, so it doesn't decide your claim. ODVS conducts training for county veterans service officers and county veterans service commissioners, though it doesn't have authority over the 88 county offices themselves. ODVS's pension page sends veterans to their county office to learn more or apply, and gives (614) 644-0898 as the number for ODVS itself. For the federal side, VA's Veterans Benefits Administration answers at 800-827-1000.5

ODVS also operates two state-run Ohio Veterans Homes, one in Sandusky and one in Georgetown. Both are nursing homes offering standard (intermediate) care and memory care, and the Sandusky campus also has a domiciliary for veterans who can look after themselves and don't need nursing care. Ohio's admission rule requires a year's residence in Ohio, a most recent discharge under honorable conditions, and service during a war or a period of conflict as VA determines it (or a qualifying Ohio National Guard or naval militia line-of-duty disability), plus a licensed physician's finding of a disability that keeps the applicant from earning a living, later confirmed by a physician the homes appoint.8

County Veterans Service Offices

This is where Ohio's system stands out. ODVS counts 88 county veterans service offices in Ohio and publishes a listing of them with each office's street address and phone number.4 The structure is written into Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5901: each county has a veterans service commission, that commission employs one or more county veterans service officers, and each service officer must be a veteran.4 Their statutory job is to advise and assist veterans, their spouses, surviving spouses, children, parents, and dependents in presenting claims or obtaining rights or benefits under any law of the United States or of this state.4 ODVS describes those offices as staffed by accredited service officers, and its 2026 Benefits Resource Guide says they help veterans, dependents, and surviving spouses file and manage federal VA claims and can help with temporary emergency financial assistance.5 That emergency help comes from the county commission, which must adopt rules granting immediate assistance, financial or otherwise, to anyone entitled to it under the statute. To get the money, you generally must have lived in that county for at least three months and give the commission a statement of your household income and property, which the statute keeps out of the public record. Those two conditions apply to the county's financial assistance, not to help filing a VA claim.4

These offices are funded at the county level. Under Chapter 5901, the commission submits a budget to the board of county commissioners, which reviews it and appropriates funds, and the board makes a levy of up to five-tenths of a mill per dollar of assessed county property value to raise the amount it approves.4 To find your county office, ODVS points veterans to its county-by-county listing or to ohiovets.gov/cvsos, which opens its Find a CVSO page.5

Ohio's Veteran Population

VA's National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics puts Ohio's veteran population at 640,089 for 2025 in its FY2025 Ohio state summary, a modelled estimate, and 48.9% of them (312,810) are 65 or older.9 It's worth contacting your county office early, before a care crisis.

A word of caution: be wary of companies that charge fees to help with VA claims. Ask what a representative charges before you sign anything, and start with your county veterans service office, which ODVS says provides its services free of charge, or an accredited Veterans Service Organization representative.5

How VA Aid and Attendance Works with Ohio Medicaid

Aid and Attendance and Ohio Medicaid are run separately, by different agencies and under different rules. A veteran can receive both at the same time, but the two count money differently, so a few points are worth understanding.6

• A&A income doesn't automatically disqualify you from Ohio Medicaid. When Ohio Medicaid decides whether you are eligible, it uses SSI income rules, and under those rules the Aid and Attendance allowance is not income at all, so only your basic pension counts toward the limit.6
• Care costs work in your favor on the VA side. For VA pension, unreimbursed medical and care expenses, such as in-home care, assisted living, or nursing home costs, can be deducted from countable income, which can raise the A&A amount. VA counts only the part above 5% of your MAPR.6
• VA pension income can affect your Medicaid patient liability. Once you're eligible, Medicaid works out what you owe toward the cost of care, known as your patient liability or share of cost. Under the federal post-eligibility rule for people in a medical institution or intermediate care facility, income that was disregarded in deciding eligibility must be considered in that calculation. Ohio's own patient-liability rule, OAC 5160:1-6-07, leaves out VA pension, including aid and attendance, up to $90 a month for a veteran with no spouse or dependent minor or disabled child, and for a surviving spouse with no such child. We haven't confirmed whether any other Ohio rule changes how a full-rate A&A payment is treated, for example for a veteran with a spouse or child, so confirm it with your county Job and Family Services office or the Ohio Department of Medicaid. Before anything reaches the facility, the federal rule requires deductions, in order: a personal needs allowance, amounts for a spouse or family still at home, incurred medical expenses no third party pays (including health insurance premiums), and any SSI the resident still receives. Ask Ohio Medicaid for the Ohio amounts before you budget on the gross figure.6
• For a veteran with no spouse or child, the pension drops to $90 a month. Federal law (38 U.S.C. 5503(d)) caps VA pension at $90 a month, starting the month after admission, for a veteran with neither spouse nor child whose nursing-facility care Medicaid covers, and the same rule applies to a surviving spouse with no child. That $90 is treated as an aid and attendance allowance, the facility's Medicaid payment can't be reduced by it, and Ohio's patient-liability rule excludes it rather than counting it toward what the resident owes.6 The cap doesn't reach a State home for which VA pays a nursing home per diem, so check an Ohio Veterans Home stay with an accredited veterans service officer rather than assume it applies. In a State veterans home where VA does pay that per diem, for a Medicaid-eligible veteran with no spouse or child (or a surviving spouse with no child), federal Medicaid law counts pension above $90 a month only toward the home's cost of the veteran's nursing care.6
• Home and community-based waiver services follow different rules. The federal nursing-facility rule above doesn't set a waiver household's share of cost, so if you're on an Ohio waiver, confirm how your VA pension is counted with Ohio Medicaid.6
• Timing matters. Because the two programs interact, the order and timing of your applications can matter. Talk to a benefits counselor or accredited representative who understands both programs before you file.6

For the bigger picture of how Ohio Medicaid pays for care, start with our complete guide to Ohio Medicaid.

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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.