What makes Aid & Attendance, a government benefit, different from any other government benefit? Most government programs today are welfare programs, by definition a "program which provides financial aid to individuals or groups who cannot support themselves (Investopedia.com).
Another way to look at it: a welfare program usually is a benefit that is not earned, but given.
VA benefits are the complete opposite: they are earned, not given.
This was clear when Abraham Lincoln stated in 1865 when he exhorted the federal government "to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan."
More specific to Aid & Attendance, commentary in an OGC report from 1994 stated that "read literally, 38 USC §§ 1502(b), 1521(d), and 1541(d) [the laws which established Aid & Attendance], establish entitlement to increased improved pension for any veteran or surviving spouse who is otherwise entitled to such pension and who is in need of "regular aid and attendance."
Veterans are entitled, and rewarded, for their wartime service by being provided a pension in their later years to help pay for care when eligibility requirements are met. That is why Veteran Support Center is so dedicated to helping veterans apply for benefits. It is more than just helping veterans and their surviving spouses....we owe them this service for their sacrifice. A nation which truly honors its veterans is a great nation indeed.
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