VA benefits when your loved one has a serious mental illness

Yes. A psychosis can be service-connected. Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder are in the list VA uses for that word. If the psychosis showed up within 1 year of discharge, VA can presume it is service-connected, but only when the service and severity rules below are met. VA can set that presumption aside if the evidence shows the psychosis was not connected to service. PTSD and depression can be claimed too. They are not in the psychosis list, so they do not get this one-year presumption. They need their own link to service.

Yes. Veterans Pension is a needs-based payment. The disability does not have to be connected to service. Your loved one needs wartime service, a discharge that is not dishonorable, and income and net worth under the limits Congress sets. A disability is one way to qualify. Being 65 or older, living in a nursing home for a disability, or already getting SSDI or SSI can also meet the age or disability part.

Yes. Your loved one needs to be enrolled in VA health care, and a family member needs to be providing daily personal care. The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers can pay a monthly stipend to the Primary Family Caregiver. It needs a VA rating of 70 percent or higher, individual or combined, and at least 6 continuous months of in-person personal care. The Program of General Caregiver Support Services is the broader Caregiver Support Program. It does not pay that stipend. It offers training, coaching, and peer support, and it does not require the 70 percent rating.

A VA fiduciary is the person VA appoints to manage VA benefit payments when a beneficiary cannot manage that money. It is VA's version of a Social Security representative payee. One appointment does not create the other. A family member can be considered for both, separately. VA makes the finding from medical evidence, or because a court already has. VA then checks the person who is willing to serve.

You can help without winning an argument about the diagnosis. Talk about what your loved one still cares about, and start with a step that does not require them to say they are sick. You can learn the programs, gather the papers, and write a crisis plan today, even when your loved one is not ready. A free accredited Veterans Service Officer handles any VA claim. Inaya does not file, prepare, or advise on one.

Yes. An other than honorable discharge does not by itself block emergency mental health care. If a health care provider or a trained crisis responder says your loved one is at risk of immediate self-harm, VA can provide or cover emergency mental health care and up to 90 days of related services, including for someone not enrolled in VA health care, when one of the service rules on the VA page is met. A dishonorable discharge, or a discharge by court-martial, is a different kind of discharge. Do not treat it as the same as other than honorable. Go to care first, and let VA review the discharge.

The Veterans Crisis Line is a VA resource for veterans and for people who are worried about a veteran. Call 988, then press 1. You can also text 838255, or start a chat on the Veterans Crisis Line website. Inaya does not provide crisis support. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

VA disability compensation counts as unearned income for SSI, and it can reduce the SSI payment. Social Security generally does not count the first $20 of most unearned income in a month. VA pension is different: it is income based on need, so that $20 exclusion does not apply, and the pension can reduce SSI dollar for dollar. Aid and attendance, housebound allowance, and special monthly compensation are not income for SSI. The extra amount VA adds because of a dependent is not income to the veteran.

Use an accredited Veterans Service Officer. County veteran offices, Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion, and the VFW help with claims for free. VA's accreditation search is the list to use. A helper who is not on it is not the free option. An accredited attorney or claims agent is allowed to charge a fee, often a share of back pay, and usually only after a decision review. Start with the free Veterans Service Officer.

The National Archives gives a free copy to the veteran, or to the next of kin of a veteran who has died. Next of kin means a surviving spouse who has not remarried, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a sister, or a brother. The request has to be signed and dated by the veteran or by that next of kin. A living veteran signs their own request. Records from less than 62 years after separation are not public. Some companies charge for a copy the Archives gives free when the discharge was less than 62 years ago.

Aid and Attendance is an extra monthly payment added to a VA pension. Your loved one has to already get a VA pension, and need help with daily activities such as bathing, feeding, or dressing, or stay in bed for much of the day, or be in a nursing home because of a loss of mental or physical abilities, or have eyesight of 5/200 or less in both eyes, or a visual field of 5 degrees or less. Housebound allowance is a different add-on, for someone who already gets a pension and stays home most of the time because of a permanent disability. VA does not pay both at the same time.

CHAMPVA can cover a spouse or dependent child of a veteran rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability. It can also cover a surviving spouse or dependent child if the veteran died from a service-connected disability, or was rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability at death. Someone who can get TRICARE cannot get CHAMPVA.

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is a tax-free payment for a surviving spouse, child, or parent. It can apply when a service member dies in the line of duty, or when a veteran dies from a service-related injury or illness. It can also apply when a veteran was rated totally disabled from a service-connected disability for a set period before death. A surviving spouse also has marriage rules. A parent also has an income limit.

VA has deactivated Coaching Into Care. Beginning April 5, 2024, calls to 888-823-7458 go to the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274. That line is for family members and friends. It is not a crisis line. VA still has family support.