State Veterans Homes

State veterans homes fill an important need for veterans with low income and veterans who desire to spend their last years with "comrades" from former active-duty. The predominant service offered is nursing home care. VA nursing homes must be licensed for their particular state and conform with skilled or intermediate nursing services offered in private sector nursing homes in that state. State homes may also offer assisted living or domiciliary care which is a form of supported independent living.

Every state has at least one veterans home and some states like Oklahoma have six or seven of them. There is great demand for the services of these homes but lack of federal and state funding has created a backlog of well over 130 homes that are waiting to be built. We will discuss this problem in the section entitled "Challenges Facing the Construction of New Homes".

Unlike private sector nursing homes where the family can walk in the front door and possibly that same day make arrangements for a bed for their loved one, state veterans homes have an application process that could take a number of weeks or months. Many state homes have waiting lists especially for their Alzheimer's long term care units.

No facilities are entirely free to any veteran with an income. The veteran must pay his or her share of the cost. In some states the veterans contribution rates are set and if there's not enough income the family may have to make up the difference. Federal legislation, effective 2007, also allows the federal government to substantially subsidize the cost of veterans with service-connected disabilities in state veterans homes.

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Click HereĀ for a list of all the VA Nursing Homes.