How VA Aid & Attendance works for veterans and surviving spouses in Greater Philadelphia, and how the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center fits into the process.
By Philly Senior Advisor Care Team — Hospital & Veteran Transitions Team · February 24, 2026
Aid & Attendance is a VA pension benefit add-on for wartime veterans (and eligible surviving spouses) who need help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, or meal preparation, or who are housebound. It's not automatic — a veteran must first qualify for the underlying VA pension based on service history, income, and net worth limits, and then apply for the Aid & Attendance increase on top of it. For many Philadelphia-area veteran families, this benefit is the difference between affording assisted living and not.
The Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in University City is the primary VA medical facility for Greater Philadelphia veterans and is a good first stop for benefits questions, medical records needed for a claim, and referrals to a Veterans Service Officer (VSO). Veterans across Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, and Chester counties can be served through Crescenz, and the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs maintains county veterans affairs offices that can also help file a claim at no cost.
Families sometimes delay applying for Aid & Attendance because the VA claims process can take months, which feels mismatched to an urgent placement timeline. A more effective approach: start the application as soon as a care need is identified, even before a placement decision is final, since the benefit — once approved — can be retroactive to the application date in many cases. A Veterans Service Officer at a county veterans affairs office or through a service organization can file the claim at no cost; families should be cautious of any paid 'benefits planner' who charges a fee to help apply, since accredited VSOs do this work for free.
Aid & Attendance can be layered with a family's own funds, long-term care insurance, and — separately — Pennsylvania's Community HealthChoices Medicaid waiver, though CHC has its own asset and income rules that interact with VA pension income. A benefits counselor at the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging or a collar-county Area Agency on Aging can help sort out how the two programs work together for a specific family's finances.
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