Episode Transcript:
Christina Chartrand: Hi, and welcome to Life Conversations with Christina Chartrand and, so good to see everyone on today's episode. David, we have a special guest today.
David Chandler: David Chandler. Yes, we have Angie Boglino, who is the Senior National Account Manager at the Veteran Care Coordination. Angie, we are so glad to have you today. Really excited to share during our special month of May where we're recognizing our Veterans. Thank you so much for joining us today. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Angie Boglino: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. We have a really good partnership, as you know, with yourselves. And you guys have such a focus on Veterans. And obviously, that's really important to us as well. So I really appreciate being here. So I have been with Veterans Care Coordination for about four years. And I work with home care agencies. And what we really are doing with those agencies is trying to make sure that all of their clients are getting all of the Veteran benefits that they could receive. And the specific benefit we work with is Pension with Aid and Attendance. So really just, it's a little known benefit. So we really try to help to educate the offices and then also serve their clients just to make sure that they are getting all the home care and all the benefits that they could be receiving.
Christina Chartrand: Hey, well Angie, tell us a little bit about this benefit, because I bet we have some listeners today that have no idea even what this is all about.
Angie Boglino: Sure. Yeah. The name of the benefit is Pension with Aid and Attendance. And if you hear people talk about it, lots of times you'll hear them just say Aid and Attendance. And that is part of the benefit. It is actually a two -part benefit, Pension WITH Aid and Attendance. So this is something that's there from the VA. And it can help pay for medical expenses, one of those being home care for both Veterans and their spouses and surviving spouses. So it's a really important piece of an opportunity for them to pay for home care that in many instances they would otherwise go without because they wouldn't have this funding.
Christina Chartrand: What else does it pay for? Let's just say someone does not interested in home care. Obviously we love home care, but let's just say they're not. What other, what else does it pay for?
Angie Boglino: Thank you. So it is really surrounded around medical expenses. Oftentimes, if someone's going into, say, an assisted living facility, it could help to pay for that sort of a thing as well. But there are some certain requirements around this benefit. And that's something that we really help with because this benefit can be really cumbersome to get through.
Christina Chartrand: Okay.
Angie Boglino: So what we're really doing with the clients at the time of screening is helping to streamline that, try to take the stress off of them. We're trying to assist them through the entire process to help determine are they eligible for this benefit and helping them to get all of that paperwork done.
Now back to kind of what it can pay for once it's in place. That can be, you know, home care is just a huge piece of it. But it also can be other medical expenses, like if they have medical supplies that are needed, whether those be incontinence supplies or different things along those lines. Once that benefit gets in place,
Christina Chartrand: Mm -hmm.
Angie Boglino: There's also other things like lift chairs, bars for their home, things that are considered a medical expense. Those are different pieces that could be paid for with this benefit as well.
Christina Chartrand: That's great. That's great. So how can you find out if you're eligible? How does that work?
Angie Boglino: Sure. So, you know, again, we partner with home care agencies. That's where most of our clients begin. You know, there are people who are wanting home care, needing home care, maybe they already have home care, but they're needing more, or they need more funding because they can be running out of money paying for that home care, as you well know. So we have a team here that works directly with those clients that are trying to figure out if they're eligible. There are certain criteria they have to meet for this specific benefit.
Christina Chartrand: Okay.
Angie Boglino: One has to do with their service time, because this is considered a wartime benefit. And so we have to look at their service dates. They have to have served at least 90 days of active duty. And one of those days has to overlap a war period. So that's kind of the military piece of that criteria. Some confusion can come in sometimes with clients if they think grandpa wasn't in the war. You know, but didn't need to be just one day had to overlap that war period in most cases. So that's one of the big criteria. Then another area of criteria for this benefit really has to do with finances. So just like it's a wartime benefit, it's also kind of set in place for people who would otherwise probably not be able to pay for this themselves. And so there is both asset limit,
Christina Chartrand: Yeah.
Angie Boglino: So every year that's adjusted for cost of living. So it does move around, but right now it's about $155 ,000 in assets. So that's a cap. Now that doesn't include their home or their car or up to two acres land, which is good. Those things don't count as assets for the specific VA benefit. And then the other part of finances is something that's more tied to each person, it'll look a little different with each person because it's a ratio of their medical expenses to their income. So that's the other part of the financial piece we have to look at with each client.
Christina Chartrand: That must be complicated. I keep thinking about like, what do you do? Like you gather all your doctor bills and say, here they are.
Angie Boglino: Well, yeah, kind of. And it is, you're right. It can be really complicated. Yes. And the other piece that really can also trick that up a little bit is that it has to be sustainable. So it has to be an expense that's going to be there every month because that income to medical ratio has to be shown on the front end. But additionally, it has to remain through the entire lifetime of the benefit.
Christina Chartrand: Wow, no wonder. Okay. Does that include prescriptions? Is that included in that?
Angie Boglino: That's one of the pieces that gets very, very tricky that can depend on exactly what their medical situation is, why that prescription is being used, are there any other substitutes, is it forever that they're going to be on that medication. So medication is a really tricky piece that often can't be included.
So that's where it gets really, like our screening team, it's the only thing they do. There are other Veteran benefits, but we only work with this one. So our team that works with those clients to figure out if they're eligible, that's literally all they do. And so they know how to piece all of that together for that client to figure out if they're eligible, because it can also kind of change a little bit from state to state. So there's a whole lot of regulation in there to kind of determine. And really that's why we're here because it is such a hard benefit to manage. You know, we have clients who come to us who have been trying to get this benefit set up. One time she, I heard 18 months, I've been doing this for 18 months, I can't get it. And then we kind of just come in and say, okay, here's what we're gonna do. So we talk through it with them first.
And then if everything's looking aligned, then now we're going to start mailing all those documents that are needed and assist them in that application process. So I'm just again taking that stress off the family.
Christina Chartrand: Totally.
David Chandler: You mentioned a couple of these already, Angie, but are there any other common misconceptions that you can think of?
Angie Boglino: Yeah, I would say a couple of them are, I don't know if this specific one is necessarily a misconception, but a missed opportunity are the spouses. Because a lot of VA benefits are there for the Veterans. But this one, when the Veteran passes, this benefit goes on to their surviving spouse. So that's a big missed opportunity.
But another misconception is that this benefit would not be able to be stacked with other benefits. And what I mean there is like, there's another VA benefit that can pay for home care, which is fantastic. It's depending on different states call it different things usually referred to as either HHA, homemaker, chore maker. It's a benefit that Veterans get. And the starting point for that is to go see their VA doctor. And then that would get the ball rolling to get some hours in place through that benefit.
A lot of people either think they can't be worked together or they don't realize these are two different benefits. So a client can be getting hours through that HHA benefit. And then if they also qualify for Pension with Aid and Attendance, one is not gonna get rid of the other. So they are going to be able to stack those hours together. So that's a huge piece of that. And that also holds true for people who get hours of home care through Medicaid— Pension with Aid and Attendance can go on top of that as well. So, yeah, they can. And that's a huge piece. And that's another piece that our screening team is really looking through. So if we have a Medicaid client coming in, we're figuring out eligibility, we're balancing that off of what they're getting to make sure that, you know, you putting another benefit in place will not affect the other, but almost always in most cases, putting Pension with Aid and Attendance in place would not affect those other benefits. And we would make sure that that is the case before moving forward.
Christina Chartrand: I didn't realize that. That's interesting. I keep thinking about for people out there who do they ever advertise? Like how do Veterans find out about this? Like it seems like something that's like this unknown little secret that no one knows about.
Angie Boglino: It is, it really is. It is a really, you know, unfortunately, little known benefit. And again, to go back to those spouses, they're probably the most missed group because as you talk with Veterans, lots of times, you know, they're very proud of course, as they should be. And they might bring up, do you have a Veteran discount or something along those lines? And so, you know, it comes up in conversation. The spouses don't always know to bring that up. So they're a big missed group, but, but you're right. It is a benefit that just is not understood how it can work for them, what it can pay for, and again many many Veterans themselves don't realize this is a separate benefit from what they might be getting through that HHA program.
Christina Chartrand: How much do they get? So what what's the is there a max is there how's it work?
Angie Boglino: There is, yeah, there is a maximum. And, you know, I kind of mentioned earlier a little bit about that's a two part benefit. So there's Pension with Aid and Attendance total amount. So the total amount is roughly twenty three hundred dollars per month for a Veteran. Surviving spouse gets a little less. It's about fourteen hundred dollars a month. And then if you're a married couple, you get a little more. It's approximately twenty seven hundred dollars a month. So, you know, depending on what position you're in or what status you're in will determine the maximum. And so that again is what we're always trying to help our clients get to that maximum amount of that benefit.
Christina Chartrand: That's a lot of money. I mean, that could really seriously help somebody, right?
Angie Boglino: Especially for these clients who, again, many times if this wasn't in place, they wouldn't be able to afford the home care. You know, and really our overarching goal is always to keep clients in their home because as you well know, that's for most people, that's where they would want to stay. And so getting home care in there, getting the home care in there as soon as possible makes it more likely they're going to be able to stay in their home.
Christina Chartrand: Mhmm— I want to be home!
David Chandler: Yeah, Angie, this is a such an amazing benefit. I'd love to hear if you have one or two stories of Veterans or their spouses or both that have been impacted by the work that you're doing.
Angie Boglino: I would say we have, and I'm gonna go to my client care team, talk a little bit about them and sing their praises because all of our clients that start care with the benefit also receive a client care rep with us. So that client care rep works with them the lifetime of the benefit. So they're meeting with them regularly, making sure that they're making the most of their benefit, they're using every bit of their benefit that they have coming to them— Helping them maintain eligibility, if they need supplies, sourcing those supplies for them, those medical supplies, making sure everything's going good with that home care. So I really feel like we continually just get a lot of feedback from these clients and their families saying they've made a huge, huge difference.
But one specific thing that comes to mind is recently had a client who said they had been wanting to get these ear hearing aids for literally years, but they could not afford them. So once we got the benefit in place and we're paying for home care and they had some, some of that money in their account that could been used for some of those supplies, they got in place and it was just a changing event. They could communicate with their family again after years.
So some of those pieces, as well as on the opposite end, getting the benefit in place, kind of going back to that one that was 18 months, that was huge. People just feeling like the release of that stress of when they're trying to get home care set up for your family member or for yourself, there's so much stress there. You're trying to figure out... You know, do we need home care? Can we afford home care? How are we going to do this? And so if you have somebody really saying, here, let me help you, we can help with this. Let's take this off of your plate. We just have so much feedback from them in terms of the weight that has been lifted.
Christina Chartrand: Yeah, I can't even imagine. That must be huge. So if I, what are some of the big things that people need to gather? I feel like there's all this paperwork and there's so much. What are some of the big things that they need to find in their house or look through paperwork for this benefit?
Angie Boglino: Sure. Yeah. It varies a little bit by each person because, you know, as the applications come together, and believe it or not, the applications start at 40 pages. Sometimes they're 100 pages long by the time you get done because, yes, depending on your own individual situation.
Christina Chartrand: My gosh. I would be giving up at page three!
Angie Boglino: I know, I know. And so that's where, depending on their own situation, what all they have going on kind of determines what all has to go in with that application. But one thing every single person will need is a DD 214. And what that is, is their military discharge papers that kind of maps out where they were when and what years they served. So we can kind of align whether or not that first piece of eligibility of their military will come together for them. So that's something everybody will need. If they don't have that, we can actually get that on their behalf so we can file and get that in somewhat quick order. We can get that because some families have it and some don't have it. So that's not a stopper there. In terms of other documentation, you know. Again, that'll kind of, especially the financial piece really varies by every individual, but you know, things like marriage certificates and you know, if the Veteran has passed a death certificate, those kinds of things that would have to go along with that. But that DD214 is a huge one that everybody's gonna need.
Christina Chartrand: Yeah. Let's just say you're not eligible for the benefit. What other options do you give them?
Angie Boglino: Yeah, if they're not eligible, you know, we walk through why they're not eligible. So they understand that if it's a Veteran and they're not already receiving that HHA benefit, we always try to, you know, guide them that way. Or even if they're going to get pension with eight attendance and they're not already getting that HHA benefit, we'll also advise, hey, you really should go try to get this set up too, because they'll give you even more hours. So we do try to kind of refer them over there.
Spouses, unfortunately, aren't part of that HHA program. So there's not a whole lot else out there for the spouses. So that's a, that's, that one's a little harder, but we do try to, if we know anything in their area that might be able to help, we try to refer them over to some other programs.
David Chandler: Angie, could you talk about the importance of supporting our Veterans and the society impacts that your service offers?
Angie Boglino: Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's really the most important piece of it because these are earned benefits. You know, these are things that they have coming to them and they've served our country. And so now it's time for us collectively as, as, you know, home care agencies and as Veterans Care Coordination to make sure that they understand the benefit and that also, you know, they're assisted because like we said, so many of them don't have someone to help them even in the process and it would just be too overwhelming. So just making sure that they are getting all of those things that they've already put the time in for. They have them coming to them and now it's our time to serve them.
Christina Chartrand: I love that. And how can they learn more about, how can they find you? I bet we have some listeners who might want to know if they're eligible.
Angie Boglino: We do. It really, they would just reach out to us if they're, you know, going through their computer, they can just go to veteranscarecoordination.com. Really simple there. And once they get there, they would have our contact information. There's also a link where they can put in their information and someone from that screening team would then reach out to them really pretty quickly, definitely within a day, but probably within a few hours.
Christina Chartrand: Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Angie Boglino: Yes, so pretty we try to do that pretty quickly because it's you know, they're probably available if they just reached out and it's in the front of their mind, you know, so they're we're going to try to do that within a few hours of that. The other option is they can just really call into us here and that number is 855 -380 -4400 that comes right in and anybody who answers the phone would be able to help them.
David Chandler: Will you repeat that number for us one more time, Angie?
Angie Boglino: Yeah, absolutely. 855 -380 -4400.
David Chandler: Yeah, I'm sure there are some of our listeners here today that are gonna wanna be able to investigate or take advantage of this resource that I bet a lot of people still don't know about. So this is such a valuable topic that you came in. Yeah, you shared so much knowledge with us. I know Christina and I both took away some things that we didn't know before. So, yeah.
Angie Boglino: I appreciate you having me.
Christina Chartrand: I know. Yeah, and then I didn't know that. I was like, I didn't know that. Yeah, no, it was really awesome. Thank you so much, Angie. Really, really great info and really appropriate for this month for us.
Angie Boglino: Yeah. Awesome. Well, I appreciate it.
David Chandler: Yeah. And thank you for, thank you for sharing, for caring for our Veterans in this way and making this, this benefit known and taking care of those who have taken, taken care of us. So thank you.
Angie Boglino: Absolutely. Agreed. Thank you.
