Income limits for VA Health Care 2022 depend on factors like location, family size and disability rating. There are different income thresholds which determine whether copayments will apply for inpatient and outpatient services, or whether free medications, beneficiary travel benefits and medical care will apply instead. To find out what these limits are in your area use this VA online calculator – all that’s required to access it is entering in your zip code and providing details of dependents living with you in order to find out.
The Veterans Administration defines “income” as your annual household gross income, including any cash or its equivalent you receive as part of your gross annual household gross income. This could include earnings from employment, retirement savings in an IRA/401(k) account, Social Security benefits and pension payments from various sources; rental income; investment returns; long term care insurance proceeds, inheritances gifts or winnings from gambling are also considered income; usually loans that you incurred but were legally binding do not count towards income; however some gifts disguised as loans should still be counted accordingly.
As part of its qualification criteria for pension benefits, the VA takes into account an individual’s net worth when determining eligibility. Net worth refers to your total assets minus any qualified loans and liabilities you’ve incurred; its maximum limit for single people stands at $138,489 while for couples it increases annually based on cost-of-living inflation adjustments.
Veterans in need of financial help in paying for health care can join one of eight Priority Groups depending on their income, disability and other criteria. Priority Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 do not pay copayments; they have service-connected disabilities rated at least 10% disabling and meet other eligibility criteria; Priority Group 5 includes several veterans receiving pension benefits with income below the VA national and geographic thresholds.
Priority Groups 6, 7, and 8 include veterans without compensable service-connected disabilities but whose annual income surpasses both the VA’s national and geographic thresholds for income thresholds. VA can bill their private insurance for reimbursement, which covers about 14 percent of costs related to veterans in these groups.
As well, some Veterans are exempt from copays for their care; these include those with presumptions (such as Agent Orange exposure during Operation Iraqi Freedom or Gulf War/Operation Iraqi Freedom exposures), disabilities caused by military sexual trauma or chronic illnesses like mental illness; however they may have to make higher copayments than their priority group counterparts.