Virginia VA Aid & Attendance

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: Virginia

Federal Aid and Attendance sits beside Virginia programs

VA Aid and Attendance is a federal pension add-on, not a Virginia Medicaid waiver or a Virginia nursing-facility benefit. VA states that Aid and Attendance and Housebound benefits cannot be received at the same time. A veteran or surviving spouse should obtain current VA eligibility and payment guidance directly from the federal VA rather than treating a Virginia Medicaid approval as a VA determination (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Aid and Attendance).

For Virginia Medicaid, the key starting point remains the state LTSS screening and financial review. DMAS says that Medicaid evaluates income and resources for LTSS and may require patient pay; its current public materials located for this page do not publish a universal Virginia rule that turns every Aid and Attendance payment into excluded Medicaid income. A veteran should ask the eligibility worker to apply the current income policy to the actual VA award notice (Cover Virginia LTSS overview; DMAS Chapter M14).

Virginia has four veterans care centers

The Virginia Department of Veterans Services lists four state veterans care centers providing long-term skilled nursing, dementia or memory care, and short-term rehabilitation: Puller Veterans Care Center in Warrenton, Sitter & Barfoot Veterans Care Center in Richmond, Jones & Cabacoy Veterans Care Center in Virginia Beach, and Davis & McDaniel Veterans Care Center in Roanoke. The DVS page does not state Medicaid payment rules for these homes, so payment and admission should be confirmed directly with the facility and the applicable benefits programs (Virginia DVS veterans care centers).

Property-tax relief can matter in a home plan

Virginia provides a real-estate tax exemption for a qualifying veteran rated by the VA as having a 100% service-connected, permanent, and total disability who occupies the property as a principal residence. The exemption covers the dwelling and generally up to one acre, with potentially more acreage where the locality provides the corresponding elderly-and-handicapped exemption. A qualifying surviving spouse may continue the exemption if statutory conditions, including no remarriage, are met (Virginia Code § 58.1-3219.5; Virginia DVS tax exemptions).

That property-tax benefit is separate from Medicaid eligibility and estate recovery. A home may receive tax relief, be excluded or limited under Medicaid eligibility rules, and still require estate-recovery analysis after death. Keep the VA rating letter, tax-exemption approval, Medicaid notices, and title records together for a coordinated review (DMAS estate-recovery fact sheet).

Virginia veteran snapshot: four DVS veterans care centers and a principal-residence property-tax exemption for qualifying veterans with a 100% service-connected permanent and total VA disability. Confirm Medicaid and VA payment coordination case by case (Virginia DVS veterans care centers; Virginia Code § 58.1-3219.5).

For the larger benefits context, see VA Aid & Attendance. An accredited VA representative and Virginia elder-law attorney can help align the two systems without assuming that one approval decides the other.

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Federal Aid and Attendance sits beside Virginia programs

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