The care itself

What a veteran needs at home is usually what anyone needs at home. A caregiver arrives, helps with the shower that has become risky, cooks a proper meal, prompts the morning medications, handles the laundry and the errands, and stays long enough that the day has a shape to it. That is personal care, and it is billed the same way for everyone: one flat hourly rate, day, evening or overnight, with a four-hour minimum visit.

Where a veteran's situation differs is money. Many of the families we meet are paying privately for care while sitting on an entitlement nobody has explained to them.

What VA Aid and Attendance actually is

It is not a standalone programme. It is an increase to a VA pension for wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need help with the activities of daily living. That distinction matters, because families search for it as if it were a grant and then cannot find where to apply.

The part that catches people out is the income test. On paper many veterans look too well off to qualify. In practice, unreimbursed medical and care costs are deducted from income — so the cost of the care itself is often what brings a household under the limit. A family paying for daily help can be eligible where the same family, before care started, was not.

Our guide to VA Aid and Attendance walks through the eligibility test in plain language, and the Texas-specific article covers what the benefit realistically buys in this market.

Start the care, then chase the benefit

The single most common mistake is waiting. Claims take months, and a parent who is unsafe in the shower today is unsafe every day the paperwork sits in a queue. Families who start care and treat the eventual award as reimbursement end up better off than families who wait and take a fall in the meantime.

It also helps the claim. A live care arrangement produces exactly the evidence the VA wants to see — invoices, a written care plan, documented hours, an assessment describing what the veteran can and cannot do alone.

What we can and cannot do with a claim

We are a home care agency, not an accredited claims agent. We do not file claims and we do not charge for any of the following, which is simply part of setting up care properly:

  • a written care plan describing the help actually being provided
  • itemised invoices in a form that supports an unreimbursed-expense argument
  • a record of hours and tasks that matches the plan
  • a straight answer about what the care will cost per month, before you commit

For the filing itself, work with a VA-accredited representative, a Veterans Service Organization, or your county veterans service officer. Be wary of anyone charging a fee to prepare an initial claim.

Where we serve

We cover the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the surrounding North Texas counties — Tarrant, Dallas, Denton, Wise, Collin, Rockwall, Parker, Johnson, Ellis, Kaufman and Cooke. See the full list of cities, or call and we will tell you plainly whether we cover your street.

What it costs

The same as any other client: our published hourly rate, one flat figure day or night with no overnight premium and no levels-of-care pricing, a four-hour minimum visit, and a discount when one caregiver helps two people in the same home. There is no contract, and the in-home assessment is free.

This page is general information, not benefits advice. Eligibility rules change and every household's finances differ — confirm your own position with a VA-accredited representative or your county veterans service officer.