Veteran home health application assistance services can be expensive, unnecessary, families say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Every U.S. armed forces veteran is entitled to home health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but families say organizations that advertise assistance in setting up the care are surreptitiously taking money out of their pockets.

Sarah Cahill’s father was a World War II veteran who fought at Normandy on D-Day.

Her 90-year-old mother, now a widow, recently broke a hip and moved in with Cahill.

Medicare does not pay for long-term home health care, but the VA provides a monthly benefit to veterans and their spouses, but there is an application process.

That is where the process got expensive, Cahill said.

She learned of a company that advertised assistance for the benefit applications and emphasized that there was no out-of-pocket cost for the service.

“All he mentioned was that he would be reimbursed when the VA money started coming,” Cahill said.

Her mother’s application was approved and the monthly benefits started to arrive, but what Cahill and her family did not realize was the company was taking nearly 25 percent as part of its fee.

The company, Veteran Care, told Channel 9 that it disputed Cahill’s numbers, but acknowledged that it kept about 11 percent of the payments.

Former Congressman John Mica said the practice is legal, but also believed it was a disservice to veterans.

“It’s absolutely outrageous,” he said. “We have, in every county, a veterans service officer and they do not charge anything.”

Had she known the amount of money that would have gone toward her mother’s care instead of to Veteran Care, Cahill said there would have been no question about what she would have done.

“This was her money for her care as a result of the time and service my dad put in,” she said.

Cox Media Group