VA Aid & Attendance Rates: What Veteran Families Should Know Before December 1

If a veteran in your family needs help with daily activities, you’ve probably looked up what VA Aid & Attendance pays. Those amounts reset every December 1, and the number that drives the reset gets announced on October 14.

How the yearly update works

VA Aid & Attendance is an enhancement to the VA pension, paid to eligible wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily living. Congress sets a ceiling called the Maximum Annual Pension Rate, or MAPR. Each December 1, the VA raises that ceiling by the same percentage as the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. For 2026, that was 2.8%.

The Social Security Administration announces the 2027 adjustment on October 14. Advocacy groups are forecasting about 3.5%. That’s a forecast, and the official number may land somewhere else. Once it’s out, you’ll have a good read on how the VA ceilings will move.

The current maximum

These are the VA’s published Aid & Attendance ceilings, in effect through November 30, 2026:

• A veteran with no dependents: $29,093 a year, about $2,424 a month
• A veteran with one dependent, such as a spouse: $34,488 a year, about $2,874 a month
• Two married veterans who both qualify for Aid & Attendance: $46,143 a year, about $3,845 a month
• A surviving spouse with no dependent children: $18,697 a year, about $1,558 a month

Those are ceilings, not checks. The VA pays the difference between the ceiling and your countable income, so what a family actually receives is usually lower than the top figure. Medical costs you pay out of pocket can reduce the income the VA counts, once they pass 5% of your ceiling. For families who qualify, long-term care costs are often a large part of that.

You can see the full tables for veterans and surviving spouses on VA.gov.

What a bigger Social Security check does to your VA number

Social Security counts as income when the VA figures your payment, so a raise on that side feeds into the math. Because the VA ceilings rise by the same percentage, the two tend to move together. A cost-of-living increase on its own rarely decides whether a family qualifies.

What moves the number more is everything around it: Medicare premiums, out-of-pocket care costs, and changes in savings. Our post Your Social Security Raise Just Got Smaller covers the Medicare side.

What a bigger Social Security check does to your VA number

Social Security counts as income when the VA figures your payment, so a raise on that side feeds into the math. Because the VA ceilings rise by the same percentage, the two tend to move together. A cost-of-living increase on its own rarely decides whether a family qualifies.

What moves the number more is everything around it: Medicare premiums, out-of-pocket care costs, and changes in savings. Our post Your Social Security Raise Just Got Smaller covers the Medicare side.

Three things worth doing before December 1

Check where you stand on net worth

The net worth limit is $163,699 through November 30, 2026, and it adjusts with the same cost-of-living increase. Net worth is your assets plus your annual income. For VA purposes, the home you live in and your car don’t count as assets. Savings, investments, and other property do.

Look back three years

When the VA reviews a pension claim, it looks at asset transfers from the previous three years. Giving assets away, or selling them for less than they’re worth, can trigger a penalty period of up to five years when no pension is paid. If a transfer is in your past or under consideration, talk to someone before you file, not after.

Lock in your start date

You don’t need every document in hand to get started. An Intent to File (VA Form 21-0966) tells the VA you plan to apply, and it can secure the earliest possible start date for any back payments while you gather paperwork. You then have one year to submit the full application. Filing it costs nothing.

If you’re not sure where to begin

Aid & Attendance has a lot of moving parts: service history, care needs, income, assets, and dates that matter. Families do best when someone looks at the whole picture early, before a health event sets the timeline for them.

Burgos & Brein has been helping families plan for long-term care for more than 15 years. Your first consultation with us is free. The VA application is free too. Our financial planning services carry fees, separate from both.

You won’t have to sort this out alone. Call us, visit our website, or send an email and we’ll point you in the right direction.

866-949-7675 | BurgosandBrein.com | Info@BurgosandBrein.com

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Benefit amounts come from VA.gov and apply through November 30, 2026. Individual results vary.