4/16/2023 0 Comments Medical expenses![]() For transportation in a POV, VA limits the deductible mileage rate to the current POV mileage reimbursement rate specified by the United States General Services Administration (GSA). The cost of transportation for medical purposes by privately owned vehicle (POV), including mileage, parking, and tolls, is a medical expense. Payments for transportation for medical purposes, such as the cost of transportation to and from a health care provider's office by taxi, bus, or other form of public transportation are medical expenses. Medical expenses do not include non-prescription food, boarding, grooming, or other routine expenses of owning an animal. Payments for adaptive devices or service animals, including veterinary care, used to assist a person with an ongoing disability are medical expenses. ![]() Medically necessary food, vitamins, and supplements as prescribed or directed by a health care provider authorized to write prescriptions are medical expenses. Payments for prescription and non-prescription medication procured lawfully under Federal law, as well as payments for medical supplies or medical equipment, are medical expenses. Medications, medical supplies, medical equipment, and medical food, vitamins, and supplements Cosmetic procedures that a health care provider performs to improve a congenital or accidental deformity or related to treatment for a diagnosed medical condition are medical expenses. Professional home care, assisted living, and nursing home care are the most common. Payments to a health care provider for services performed within the scope of the provider's professional capacity are medical expenses. ![]() Medical expenses may include, but are not limited to, the payments specified in the paragraphs below. Generally, medical expenses for VA needs-based benefit purposes are payments for items or services that are medically necessary that improve a disabled individual's functioning or that prevent, slow, or ease an individual's functional decline. Here are excerpts from this section of 38 CFR and clarification from the adjudication manual M21-1 for those rules. Medical expenses are determined by the rules contained in 38 CFR §3.278 – Deductible medical expenses. This is an important distinction to remember. The same would be true for a surviving spouse claimant who might have a disabled dependent child. If the dependent is a non-veteran spouse of a living veteran claimant and the veteran is healthy, but the spouse is disabled and needs to pay for health care services or custodial care, those expenses can be deducted from the combined household income. ![]() Those expenses can alternatively be generated by the dependent. If Pension is to be awarded for a veteran with a dependent or a surviving spouse with a dependent, it is important to note that the veteran claimant or the surviving spouse claimant does not have to generate the unreimbursed medical expenses. In some cases, claimants with household incomes of $5,000 a month or more could still qualify for Pension if their out-of-pocket medical expenses were large enough. Without this special provision a large majority of claimants would not qualify due to incomes above the Maximum Allowable Pension Rate (MAPR). ![]() This is an important provision in the Pension rules that allows claimants with large incomes to receive entitlement to the benefit. Unreimbursed medical expenses are deducted from combined income to meet the income test for Pension. How do Medical Expenses Fit in with Aid and Attendance Pension? ![]()
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