What You Need to Be Eligible for This Veteran’s Program

Veterans Getting Insurance

Eligibility for Disability Compensation Requires:

  • Service in the uniformed services on active duty, OR
  • Active duty for training, OR
  • Inactive duty training, AND
  • You were discharged under other than dishonorable conditions, AND
  • You are at least 10% disabled by an injury or disease that was incurred in or aggravated during active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training.

Note: If you were on inactive duty for training, the disability must have resulted from injury, heart attack, or stroke.

Veterans Getting Insurance

The Following Veterans Are "Presumed" Disabled:

  • Former prisoners of war
  • Veterans who have certain chronic or tropical diseases that become evident within a specific period of time after discharge from service
  • Veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation, mustard gas, or Lewisite while in service
  • Veterans who were exposed to certain herbicides, such as by serving in Vietnam
  • Veterans who served in Southwest Asia during the Gulf War

Eligibility for Pensions

(Source: www.benefits.va.gov/)
Pension benefits are needs-based and your "countable" family income must fall below the yearly limit set by law. Veterans must have at least 90 days of active duty, including one day during a wartime period. If the active duty occurred after September 7, 1980, you must have served at least 24 months or the full period that you were called up (with some exceptions). You must also be:

  • Age 65 or older with limited or no income, OR
  • Totally and permanently disabled, OR
  • A patient in a nursing home receiving skilled nursing care, OR
  • Receiving Social Security Disability Insurance, OR
  • Receiving Supplemental Security Income

The Veteran must have met the service requirements above for surviving spouses and children applying for the Survivors Pension.

Representation

(Source: www.benefits.va.gov/)

By law, an individual must be accredited by the Veterans Administration (VA) as a Claims Agent, Attorney, or Representative of a VA-recognized Veterans Service Organization (VSO) to assist in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of a claim for VA benefits. VA regulations provide a one-time-only exception to this general rule, which authorizes a person to provide assistance on a particular claim, but such assistance must be without cost to the claimant and is otherwise subject to the laws governing representation. An individual who is not accredited by VA is otherwise prohibited by law from assisting claimants in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims before VA.

By law, no person or organization may charge claimants a fee for assistance in preparing applications for VA benefits or presenting claims to VA. VA-accredited agents and attorneys may charge fees for assistance on a claim for VA benefits only after the VA has issued a decision on a claim, a Notice of Disagreement has been filed initiating an appeal of that decision, and the agent or attorney has complied with applicable power-of-attorney requirements and fee agreement requirements.