How Missouri Veterans Can Apply for a VA Pension

A little VA paperwork never hurt anyone

To get a Veteran's Administration (VA) pension the veteran has to have been wounded while in service or now be totally disabled, right? Wrong!

My grandfather remembers a representative from the VA coming into the VFW hall in Crystal City, Missouri, and encouraging the men to apply for a VA pension. Grandpa didn't even listen to what the man had to say because he wasn't injured while on duty, he said. Now, a couple of years later, we are awaiting his first VA pension check which will make it possible for him to stay at the quality and therefore expensive assisted living care center where he currently resides.
My grandfather is a man who always carried a lot of cash in case there was an impromptu dinner out or lawnmower part he needed. He was a longtime foreman at Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) in Crystal City, retired early to the Lake of the Ozarks, moved back in his golden years and reestablished in his hometown. But the one thing he did not do was purchase long-term care insurance. His pension and his social security check were not going to pay the monthly bill at the center. I asked the helpful head nurse, a day after he moved in, if she knew of any other forms of assistance that the center's residents were taking advantage of. She immediately asked me if he was a veteran and gave me the name and phone number of the local (Jefferson/St. Louis County) representative with the Missouri Veteran's Commission.

After being mailed all the paperwork to fill out - I dove in. I needed banking information, income amounts, Grandma's death certificate, discharge certificate, social security number, a letter from the residential center, medical records, and the list goes on and on. What I did was agonize over it too much and waste too much time trying to present a perfect application only to find out that much of it did not need to be filled out.

Helen Kneir is the veteran services assistant and has been with the commission for the past 28 years. I have no doubt that she can help anyone fill out the correct forms perfectly with both eyes closed. She was able to take one look at the application that I was presenting and say, "Oh yes, he'll get the maximum benefit, which is about $1,400 per month." I tried to contain my shock and elation. Now that being said, this all took place in January and we still have not received official notification of what pension amount, if any, he may get. Helen assures me that his paperwork shows no red flags and is simply "bogged down in the backlog of pension applications."

So I will attempt to lay out what is needed and who may qualify for a VA pension, which is also extended to spouse's of veterans. But the one thing that I hope everyone gets from this story is that the paperwork is worth it to get your father, mother or yourself the pension that is truly owed you. Secondly, I hope those applying will use Helen and all her knowledge better than I did.

Helen is aware that there is a big misunderstanding when it comes to VA pensions.

"(Veterans) don't realize they may be eligible for a pension or compensation if they weren't hurt," she said.
She also said that many people may apply and find out that they are not eligible but after they go into an assisted living facility or a nursing home they are suddenly eligible for a full pension. I suspect this was the case with my grandfather.
There is a wealth of information on the Web site, www.va.gov, where they define a VA pension as a benefit paid to wartime veterans with limited income and who are permanently and totally disabled OR are age 65 or older. Helen put this in plain terms for me when she said, "The VA considers anyone who is over 65 to be disabled."

The veteran may be eligible for a pension if: they were discharged from service under other than dishonorable conditions AND served 90 days or more of active duty with at least one day during a period of wartime, AND whose countable family income is below a yearly limit set by law, AND was permanently and totally disabled OR is age 65 or older. Please read the "ands" and "ors" carefully.

The yearly income of a veteran with no dependants can not be more than $10,579 to be eligible. For a veteran with a spouse or child they must have an income of less than $13,855. A veteran who needs aid and attendance (of any degree) with no dependants must only make less than $17,651 to be eligible for a pension.

Helen stressed that those veterans who should apply immediately for a pension are those under age 65 who are drawing social security disability and any wartime veteran who is over age 65.

The necessary discharge certificate mentioned earlier is more specifically a DD214 which is "a record of separation that verifies service date and character of service," Helen explained. This can be obtained from the Missouri Adjunct General's office at 1-888-526-6664. I did not have this when I went to hand in all my paperwork and Helen simply picked up the phone and two minutes later her fax machine delivered the DD214 for my grandfather.

Helen mentioned that for those veterans who served in Vietnam there is additional benefits because of possible exposure to Agent Orange.

A monthly VA compensation can be applied for if the veteran is at least 10 percent disabled as a result of military service.
Although the amount is understandably much less there are many women who are drawing a VA pension after the death of their husband. There is also a VA death pension which can be paid to eligible dependants of deceased wartime veterans.
The Missouri Veteran's Commission currently has an office in Farmington that is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. To contact Helen or Valerie Branch, the veteran services officer, call the Farmington office at 573-218-6130.