South Carolina VA Aid & Attendance

Quick answer: VA Aid and Attendance is a monthly addition to a VA pension for eligible veterans and survivors who need help with daily activities, are bedridden, live in a nursing home because of disability, or have severe visual impairment. In South Carolina, VA eligibility and Healthy Connections Medicaid eligibility are separate decisions.

Aid and Attendance is a monthly addition to a qualifying VA pension, available to eligible veterans and their survivors. The VA points to several qualifying circumstances: needing help with daily activities, being bedridden, living in a nursing home because of disability-related loss of ability, or having a specified level of severe visual impairment. One limitation worth noting — a person cannot draw both Aid and Attendance and Housebound benefits simultaneously.

It's important to keep VA eligibility, Healthy Connections Medicaid eligibility, and admission to a State Veterans Home as three separate decisions. A VA award letter is valuable evidence of income and benefit type, but it doesn't substitute for a Medicaid application or an SCDHHS level-of-care determination. Families should hand the actual award documentation to the Medicaid caseworker rather than assume the benefit is automatically excluded — or automatically counted — without that step.

South Carolina operates six State Veterans Homes and offers a disabled-veteran property-tax exemption as additional supports worth factoring into a veteran's overall plan.