In-Home Care for Veterans in Monmouth County
There is a benefit that pays a surviving spouse up to $1,558 a month toward care at home, and most of the widows who qualify for it have no idea it exists.
That is the thing about VA benefits for home care. The money is real and it has been sitting there for years, but the programs are badly named, poorly explained, and easy to talk yourself out of. We have watched families rule themselves out over things that were never requirements in the first place.
So let's clear up what is actually true.
Four things families get wrong
"He wasn't injured in the service, so he won't qualify." Aid and Attendance has nothing to do with service-connected injury. It looks at wartime service, whether he needs help now, and his finances. A man who spent 1953 in Germany and never fired a shot can qualify at 92 because he cannot manage the stairs.
"We have too much saved." The 2026 net worth limit is $163,699, and it does not count the house or the car. Care costs you are already paying also come off countable income, which is what actually decides the number. Plenty of families who assumed they were over the line were not.
"My husband passed, so that door is closed." A surviving spouse of a wartime veteran can claim the Survivors Pension with Aid and Attendance even if he never filed for a thing.
"It's all one VA program." It is not, and this one costs people money. See below.
The 2026 numbers
Maximum monthly Aid and Attendance amounts, December 1, 2025 through November 30, 2026:
- Single veteran: up to $2,424
- Married veteran: up to $2,874
- Surviving spouse: up to $1,558
- Two married veterans: up to $3,845
Those are ceilings, not what everyone gets. The VA publishes current rates at va.gov/pension/veterans-pension-rates, and the VA alone decides eligibility and the amount.
The one distinction worth knowing before you spend a dollar
Aid and Attendance is a pension. It pays back to the day you filed. Care you pay for during the wait is effectively covered later by the back payment.
Homemaker and Home Health Aide is a health benefit, and it is the opposite. The VA authorizes the hours first and pays the agency directly. It will not reimburse a single hour provided before that authorization.
This matters most in a discharge week. When your mother is leaving Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank on a Friday and the family wants help in place by Monday, the real question is not how much care costs. It is which program you are on. Paying out of pocket with an Aid and Attendance claim pending costs you nothing in the end. Paying out of pocket while you wait on an H/HHA authorization is money you will not see again.
Same agency, same aide, same tasks in the home. Completely different money. Which track you are on should drive what you do while you wait, and it is the first thing we sort out when you call (732) 530-3636.
The other VA programs worth asking about
Beyond those two, ask the VA care team about the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC), which can provide a stipend and respite for the family member doing the work, and about Veteran-Directed Care (VDC), which lets the veteran manage a care budget directly where it is offered. Housebound benefits are a separate option for veterans who cannot leave the home. Some households qualify for more than one.
Get the claim filed by someone who does it every day
Filing help costs you nothing, and paying a private company to prepare a VA claim is not something we would recommend to anyone.
The Monmouth County Division on Aging, Disabilities and Veterans Services has Veteran Service Officers who file these claims every week. They answer at (732) 683-8675 in Freehold. For Lakewood, Jackson, Brick, and Point Pleasant families, the Ocean County Veterans Service Bureau does the same work at (732) 929-2096. There is a VA clinic right in Tinton Falls, at 55 North Gilbert Street, and the social workers there can start the Homemaker and Home Health Aide request through the veteran's primary care team. Accredited representatives are listed at va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation.
Get the guides
We wrote these for the families who call us, and they are yours whether you ever call or not.
The Aid & Attendance Guide, 2026 edition. All 72 pages of it: the 2026 rates, the net worth test, what counts as countable income, and the filing steps in the order you will actually do them.
Download hereThe Homemaker & Home Health Aide Care Guide, 2026 edition. Our own 17-page guide, including VA Form 10-10EZ and the full eight-step request process. No cost to download, and nothing asked in return.
Download hereHow care actually runs once it starts
Comfort Keepers is an official VA provider. Our Director of Nursing, Brittany Minervini, is a seasoned RN who comes to the home, writes the plan of care, and updates it as things change. Your Client Care Coordinator, Roxanne Sturm or Paula Fleming, is the person you call when anything needs to shift. She supervises the aides and works alongside Brittany.
When a caregiver is not clicking with a veteran, our first move is not to send a stranger. Your Coordinator and our nurse talk with that caregiver about what is working and what needs to change, because a revolving door of new faces is its own kind of harm. If it truly cannot be made to work, we find someone who fits.
Our caregivers are our employees, not names on a registry, and we take responsibility for them.
One thing worth knowing going in: when the VA approves Homemaker and Home Health Aide hours, the number is often smaller than what the family had in mind. Plenty of the veterans we serve use every authorized hour and pay privately for the extra, a weekend shift or a few more evenings. We can set it up either way.
Frequently asked
Can Comfort Keepers file my VA claim?
No, and be careful with anyone who says they will for a fee. We connect you with your county Veteran Service Officer or an accredited representative, who do it at no charge.
Do we have to use whatever agency the VA picks?
For Homemaker and Home Health Aide, care has to come from a VA-approved agency. Comfort Keepers is one. If you want us, say so when the VA is arranging the authorization.
Is Aid and Attendance taxable?
No. The VA pension with Aid and Attendance is not treated as taxable income.
My father is in Lakewood and I'm in another state. Can this work?
Yes, and it is a common setup for us. The Client Care Coordinator becomes your eyes. A system records when each caregiver clocks in and out at the house, and if someone is running late, the office knows in real time and calls.
What if he refuses help?
Start small. A few hours a week for something practical, like a ride to the VA clinic or help with the shower. We have never once had a family regret starting smaller than they thought they needed.
Where to start
If your father served, and he is struggling at home, the worst outcome is the one where nobody ever asks the question. The benefit does not backdate to the year you should have called.
Call (732) 530-3636. We serve veterans in Red Bank, Middletown, Tinton Falls, Long Branch, Eatontown, Holmdel, Freehold, Wall, Lakewood, Jackson, Brick, and across Monmouth and northern Ocean County. The consultation is no cost, and if the right next call is your county VSO rather than us, we will tell you that.
