One in three veterans over 65 who qualify for VA long-term care benefits has never applied. Not denied. Never applied.
Today: the VA benefit most families miss, the $2,000 prescription cap that just kicked in, the family IT department that didn't apply for the job, and one good Mother's Day question.
The VA Benefit Most Families Don't Know to Ask About
A Government Accountability Office report flagged something worth sitting with: roughly one-third of veterans over 65 who qualify for long-term care benefits through the VA have never applied. Most don't know the benefit exists. The rest assumed they didn't qualify because they "weren't in combat."
The biggest one is Aid and Attendance. It's a tax-free monthly cash benefit for veterans (or surviving spouses) who need help with daily activities or pay for assisted living or in-home care. In 2026, the maximum is $2,431/month for a married veteran, $2,054 single, and $1,319 for a surviving spouse.
You don't need combat service. Honorable discharge, 90 days of active duty with at least one day during a wartime period, and meeting the income/asset limits is enough. State Veterans Homes are another underused option — they cost a fraction of private assisted living.
What to do this week: If your parent (or your parent's late spouse) served, call 1-800-827-1000 and ask whether they qualify for Aid and Attendance and VA health care enrollment. Bring discharge papers (DD-214) if you have them. The application is Form 21-2680. Memorial Day is two weeks out — a good week to have this conversation.
💊 The $2,000 Cap on Your Drug Costs Is Live
Worth bookmarking. As of January 1, 2026, Medicare Part D has a hard $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs. Once you hit it, you pay $0 for the rest of the year. The old "donut hole" is gone. What to do: Check your plan's tracker on Medicare.gov to see where you stand against the cap. If you take expensive specialty drugs, opt into the new Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — it spreads costs over the remaining months instead of a giant February bill.
→ How the $2,000 cap actually works
📱 You Are Not Alone in the Family IT Department
The role nobody applied for: family tech support. Resetting passwords for accounts you didn't make. The 9 PM call about a printer that "made a noise." There's a way to ease it that doesn't involve quitting the family. What to do: Set up one shared note with every login, every device PIN, every Wi-Fi password — and a 30-minute weekly window where the questions get answered. Outside that window, you're off duty.
→ The honest take on family tech support
🌷 The Mother's Day Gift She Actually Wants
Mother's Day is Sunday. Flowers are nice. So is brunch. But if you want to give your mother something she'll genuinely use, sit with her for 30 minutes and write down her current medication list — drug name, dose, time, prescribing doctor, pharmacy. Snap a photo. Email it to yourself and to her. The next time she's in an ER, that single piece of paper saves 45 minutes of fumbling and possibly a dangerous interaction.
The Caregiver Burnout Piece I Keep Sending to Friends
Benjamin Wells wrote this one a couple of years back — long before the VA's family caregiver expansion, long before the recent push for Medicare to cover more in-home support. It's still the clearest thing we've published on what burnout actually looks like, why it sneaks up on the people most determined to handle it alone, and the specific signs to watch for in yourself before someone else has to point them out.
What sticks with me: Benjamin is direct about the shame. The "I should be able to handle this" voice. He names it, then walks through the real options — respite care, support groups, the practical stuff caregivers tend to dismiss as "for other people." If you're caring for a parent or a spouse — or you have a sibling who is, and you're worried — read this and forward it.
A reader emailed last week to say her 84-year-old mother just learned how to use FaceTime. The first call was to her granddaughter in Seattle. The second call, the granddaughter — 9 years old — taught Grandma how to use the bunny filter.
Grandma spent the rest of the afternoon as a rabbit, ordering groceries.
This is what 80 years of life experience prepares you for: the quiet dignity of being a rabbit at the grocery store.
That's all for this week. One in three never applied — don't let your family be one of them.
— Nino
P.S. Forward this to anyone whose father, mother, or grandparent ever wore a uniform. There's money on the table that belongs to them. I read every reply.
