VA Eliminates Net Worth as Health Care Eligibility Factor

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that has updated the way it determines eligibility for VA healthcare. The VA has eliminated the use of net worth as a determining factor for both healthcare programs and copayment responsibilities.The VA implemented the change at the beginning of 2015.  This change will result in more veterans, especially those of low-income, having access to healthcare benefits. Instead of combining the sums of Veterans’ income with their assets to determine eligibility for medical care and copayment obligations, the VA now only considers a Veteran’s gross household income and deductible expenses from the previous year. This means that certain lower-income, non-service-connected veterans will have less out-of-pocket costs.