Yes. The VA covers in-home care for veterans through several distinct programs, from a full primary care team that comes to your house, to a personal care aide who helps with bathing and meals, to a flexible budget you control yourself. Which programs you can use depends on enrollment in VA health care and a clinical determination that you actually need the service. Veterans with service-connected disabilities generally pay nothing.
The In-Home Programs the VA Pays For
The VA runs six programs that deliver or fund care in your home. They serve different levels of need, and it’s common for one veteran to use more than one.
Home-Based Primary Care
An entire care team comes to your home on an ongoing basis: a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, backed by nurses, social workers, rehab therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, and dietitians. It’s aimed at veterans with complex or chronic conditions who struggle to get to clinic appointments. You don’t have to be fully homebound. Veterans who are isolated, or whose caregivers are burning out, can also qualify.1Department of Veterans Affairs. Home Based Primary Care
Skilled Home Health Care
Clinical services at home: wound care, IV antibiotics, catheter care, and physical, occupational, or speech therapy. It often begins after a hospital or nursing home discharge to help you get home safely, but it can also support long-term needs. Home safety evaluations and medication or equipment training are part of what the team does.2Department of Veterans Affairs. Skilled Home Health Care
Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care
Non-medical personal care. An aide helps with bathing, dressing, toileting, and meal preparation, and a registered nurse supervises the care plan.3Department of Veterans Affairs. Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care It does not cover transportation, housekeeping, or round-the-clock sitter services. Approved hours are set to your specific needs rather than a fixed weekly schedule.4VA.gov. Home and Community Based Services Brochure
Respite Care
Respite gives a family caregiver a break. The VA can send a paid home health aide to your house, arrange adult day health care, or place the veteran temporarily in a community living center or nursing home. Nursing home respite is capped at 30 days per calendar year.5Department of Veterans Affairs. Respite Care Many families don’t ask about it until they’re already exhausted. Ask early.
Veteran-Directed Care
Veteran-Directed Care gives you a flexible budget you control. You can hire your own workers, including family members or neighbors, and buy goods or services that support living at home. A counselor from your local Aging and Disability Network helps you build a spending plan and manage the money.6U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Veteran-Directed Care7Administration for Community Living (ACL). Veteran-Directed Care Program
Home Telehealth
The VA ships you a small device at no cost, and you send in daily vitals and answer health questions. A care coordinator watches the data and pulls in your provider if something looks off. It works without a landline or internet, and a cell-based option exists. It targets chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, COPD, heart failure, depression, and PTSD. The program is free, though veterans who stop completing daily sessions can be removed.8VA.gov. Home Telehealth Program Brochure
Who Qualifies
You need to be enrolled in VA health care first. Enrollment uses VA Form 10-10EZ and can be done online, by mail to the Health Eligibility Center in Janesville, Wisconsin, at any VA medical center, or with help by phone at 1-877-222-8387.9Veterans Affairs. Apply for VA Health Care
Enrollment gets you in the door. Each in-home program then requires its own clinical determination. Your VA provider looks at how well you handle daily activities like bathing, dressing, eating, and moving around, along with tasks like managing medications, cooking, and handling finances. The greater the limitations, the more likely you’ll qualify for aide services or Home-Based Primary Care.3Department of Veterans Affairs. Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care
There is no single checklist across programs. The VA’s own program pages say you qualify “if you meet the clinical need for the service and it is available.”1Department of Veterans Affairs. Home Based Primary Care Availability varies. Not every VA facility offers every program, so what you can access depends partly on where you live.
How to Request In-Home Care
Start with your VA primary care provider. Raise your needs at a regular appointment or call the office and ask for a conversation specifically about in-home support. Your provider can refer you to a care coordinator or interdisciplinary team for a full assessment of your health, function, and living situation. That produces a personalized care plan that lays out which services you need and how often, delivered by VA staff or by contracted agencies. The plan can be updated as your needs change.
Don’t wait for a crisis. Referrals and assessments take time, and starting the conversation early gives you more options.
When the VA Sends You to a Community Agency
If the VA can’t deliver your care within its own system, it can authorize a private agency through the Community Care Network. The access standards: for primary care, mental health, and extended outpatient care, a 30-minute average drive time or a 20-day wait triggers eligibility for community care. For specialty care, it’s 60 minutes or 28 days.10U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Community Care Outside VA When your nearest VA facility can’t meet those standards for your in-home needs, the VA pays a community home health agency to provide the care.
What In-Home Care Costs
Many veterans pay nothing. For geriatric and extended care services, which cover most in-home programs, the first 21 days of care in any 12-month period are copay-free for everyone. Starting on day 22, copays apply to veterans who aren’t exempt. The 2026 caps are up to $15 per day for outpatient-level care like adult day health care and daytime respite, and up to $97 per day for inpatient-level care like overnight respite in a nursing facility.11Veterans Affairs. Current VA Health Care Copay Rates Your actual copay inside those caps depends on income and assets, which you report on VA Form 10-10EC.
Who Owes Nothing for Extended Care
Federal regulation exempts several groups from extended care copays entirely:12eCFR. 38 CFR 17.111 – Copayments for Extended Care Services
- Veterans with a compensable service-connected disability rated 10% or higher.
- Care that treats a service-connected condition, even at a 0% rating.
- Veterans whose annual income is below the VA pension threshold.
- Veterans the VA has determined to be catastrophically disabled, for non-institutional care like adult day health care and in-home respite.
- Veterans receiving care authorized under exposure programs (Agent Orange, ionizing radiation, Gulf War environmental hazards, Camp Lejeune).
- Care related to military sexual trauma.
- Medal of Honor recipients.
The 10% rating exemption is broader than many veterans realize. With even a 10% compensable rating, you should not be billed copays for extended care services like aide visits or respite.
Paying a Family Member to Provide Care
Two separate benefits can put money in a family caregiver’s hands, and they work very differently.
Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers
PCAFC pays a monthly stipend to the primary caregiver of a veteran or service member with a serious injury incurred or aggravated during active service, defined as a service-connected disability rated 70% or higher, either as a single condition or combined.13VA Caregiver Support Program. PCAFC Eligibility Criteria Fact Sheet
The stipend is calculated from the federal General Schedule pay table (GS-4, Step 1) adjusted for the veteran’s locality. Level One caregivers receive 62.5% of that adjusted monthly rate; Level Two caregivers, whose veterans cannot sustain themselves in the community, receive 100%.14VA Caregiver Support Program. PCAFC Monthly Stipend Fact Sheet Because locality pay varies, the dollar amount differs by region. Your Caregiver Support Team can give you the current rate for your area.
Primary caregivers may also receive CHAMPVA health insurance if they don’t already have coverage, mental health counseling, travel benefits when accompanying the veteran to appointments, and at least 30 days of respite care per year.15Department of Veterans Affairs. Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers Benefits
Apply on VA Form 10-10CG online, by mail to the 10-10CG Evidence Intake Center in Janesville, Wisconsin, or through your facility’s Caregiver Support Program. The Caregiver Support Line is 1-855-260-3274.16VA.gov. Application for the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers – VA Form 10-10CG
Aid and Attendance
Veterans who need help with daily activities but don’t have a high enough service-connected rating for PCAFC may qualify for Aid and Attendance, a cash add-on to the VA pension. It’s not a care program. It’s money you can spend however you choose, including on in-home help.
You need to be eligible for the VA pension first (wartime service, limited income and net worth — the 2026 net worth cap is $163,699 — and a discharge other than dishonorable).17Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Veterans Pension On top of that, you must meet a clinical condition: you need another person’s help with daily activities, you’re largely bedridden, you’re in a nursing home due to lost mental or physical abilities, or your eyesight is severely limited.18Veterans Affairs. VA Aid and Attendance Benefits and Housebound Allowance
The 2026 maximum annual pension rate with Aid and Attendance is $29,093 for a veteran with no dependents (about $2,424 per month) and $34,488 with one dependent (about $2,874 per month).19Veterans Affairs. Current Pension Rates for Veterans The payment is reduced dollar-for-dollar by countable income, so a veteran with Social Security or other income receives less. A partial benefit can still cover several hours a week of paid help.
If the VA Says No
A denial based on a clinical judgment (your provider decides you don’t clinically qualify for a program) goes through the VHA clinical appeals process. Send a written appeal to the Patient Advocate at your VA medical facility. The Patient Advocate routes it to the facility’s Chief of Staff, who reviews and issues a decision within 45 business days. If you disagree, the next step is a written appeal to the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) Patient Advocate Coordinator, whose Chief Medical Officer issues the final decision.20Department of Veterans Affairs. Appeal of Veterans Health Administration Clinical Decisions
A denial tied to your disability rating or benefits eligibility, rather than a clinical judgment, follows a different path. You can file a Supplemental Claim, request a Higher-Level Review, or appeal to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals within one year of the decision date on the letter.21Veterans Affairs. Board Appeals If the Board rules against you, you have 120 days to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Those deadlines are firm. Mark them on a calendar the day the denial letter arrives.