Well,... because the AG and the Goobernor are Democ
s!
Posted on 03/05/2006 11:36:34 AM PST by SandRat
It's a situation we want every veteran to know about. Assisted living centers around Arizona are telling veterans about a program that does not exist--and they're getting those veterans in a lot of financial trouble.
For the past two months, we've been investigating the Veteran's Salute program. Some assisted living facilities advertise the program as a method for veterans to get federal dollars for moving in to nursing homes, but it turns out, the program doesn't exist in Arizona or at a federal level--leaving those veterans out in the cold.
Last year, Ford Reterstorf sold his home and moved in with his son's family. Reterstorf needs help with his medications and daily tasks. Six months ago, he heard about the veteran's salute program and thought it sounded like a good way to get the help he needed--at a fraction of the cost.
"It's kind of hectic around here. they've got two children, grandchildren here and everything, the kids thought it would be better if i was in a peaceful, quiet place," Retersdorf said.
The World War II veteran shopped around and decided to move in to Canyon Crest Assisted Living Facility.
Administrators at Canyon Crest told Reterstorf he could get more than $1,400 a month from the Veteran's Salute program, cutting his rent to just over $800 a month. But after signing his lease, the government told Reterstorf he didn't qualify for assistance.
"Sure it's frustrating," Retersdorf said. "It's because, well like the other day I said, 'Get me out of here. I just want to get out of here.'"
"That raised an eyebrow because I said, 'Uh oh, now it's really hitting home,'" said Joan Shadwick with the Arizona Department of Veteran's Services. "This money is nonexistent and these people are finding out the hard way that when they were promised that they can get all this money, it's not happening."
A client told Shadwick about the Veterans Salute Program after the Cascades nursing home gave him a pamphlet claiming he could get more than $1,300 a month from the government.
"As soon as he heard about that he ran over here and he said Joan, I want to get into this Veteran's Salute program and I said, 'What are you talking about, Veteran's Salute?'" Shadwick said.
Shadwick says the Veteran's Salute program doesn't exist. Administrators at Canyon Crest would not go on camera with us, but they told us the Veteran's Salute program and Aid and Attendance are the same thing. Shadwick says that's not the case. Aid and Attendance is a federally-funded program designed to help low-income veterans with medical costs.
Here's how the Aid and Attendance program works:
Veterans must determine what their monthly income is. Once they subtract the cost of all their medical care, some veterans may fall below the poverty level. The Aid and Attendance program will give those veterans enough money to meet the poverty level. If veterans don't fall below the poverty level, they don't qualify.
"And that's the piece of the puzzle that the owners of the assisted living facilities aren't telling the veterans," Shadwick said.
Shadwick has been trying to debunk the rumors about the veteran's salute program for years, and says rapid turnover at assisted-living facilities makes it difficult.
Every three, six months you have a different person. So the person I spoke with I understand is gone now," Shadwick said. "So every six months the turnover and this information evidently does not get passed on."
Administrators at Canyon Crest told us Reterstorf's aid application is still pending, but Shadwick says he makes too much money to qualify.
Reterstorf says if he had to do it all over again, he would not have left his family's home.
"If I wasn't pretty sure that we were going to, that it was all going to go through like we thought it would, I probably wouldn't do it again," Retersdorf said.
Shadwick says if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Make sure to call the Department of Veteran's Services to verify any information you may hear--before committing to a program like Veteran's Salute.
For more information, contact Joan Shadwick at 520.207.4968 or the Arizona Department of Veteran's Services at 1.800.852.VETS.
A BIG Veteran's FYI!
Any you guys seen/heard about this? Vet scam in Az.
Thanks for posting this SanRat.
BTTT
I know this isn't a Good News For Iraq or ProCoalition story. But it is good info and heads up that needs to be pasted on.
Thanks for the ping!
I wonder why the Arizona AG isn't filing charges against these people?
I caught the news report the night it aired.
Really stinks, but as long as the home says "You may be eligible for..." they're in the clear. They never really said you were actually going to be reimbursed.
It's a shame when people don't pay attention how things are said.
What's the old saying, "If it sounds to good to be true...it is."
Someone need to spend some time making small rocks out of big ones!
Well,... because the AG and the Goobernor are Democs!
This isn't really a "scam" -- no one behind the scenes makes out from it -- but a misunderstanding of how the VA nonservice-connected pension entitlement works. The "aid and attendance" increment added to basic pension benefits is for people in need of skilled nursing care (bed patients, etc.) A vet or widow in "assisted living" doesn't rise to that level.
This is the latest "phantom" VA benefit to sweep the country by word of mouth. A previous example (making the rounds since Truman was POTUS) was/is the "special dividend" paid to all GI life insurance policyholders that your plumber's next door neighbor's brother in law's boss got. Sure he did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.