Baldwin Author Promotes Little-Known Pensions

By some measures, it would seem like a good finish when a first-time author sells 1,200 copies of a self-published book over a year and a half, especially when the author is not a writer by trade.

But for resident Joseph Scott McCarthy, whose book “Checks for Vets” was released in the fall of 2009, the real work is just beginning.

In “Checks for Vets,” McCarthy walks readers through the process of applying for the little-known Veterans Affairs benefits called the “Aid and Attendance” and “Homebound” pensions. While the pensions are available to many aging wartime veterans and their spouses, McCarthy said that the majority of veterans aren’t aware of them.

“Unfortunately, most veterans don’t hear about this because it’s not communicated very well,” McCarthy said.

“These veterans that have chronic lung disease, heart disease, typically are the type that, now in that later age, have difficulty doing simple things we take for granted: showering everyday, tying your shoes,” he said. “It could help them in their last years (to) really enjoy a dignified life rather than struggling.”

According to McCarthy’s book, eligible veterans and their spouses can receive as much as $23,000 per year toward the cost of staying in an assisted-living center or obtaining in-home care. Monthly, an eligible veteran would receive $1,644, while an eligible spouse would receive $1,056. If both qualify, the couple would receive $1,949.

To be eligible, a veteran must:

• have served at least 90 days of active military service during wartime and received a general or honorable discharge,
• have assets of less than $80,000, not including home or car,
• have medical costs that exceed monthly income and
• need help with daily living activities.

If a veteran is deceased, a spouse may be eligible if the two were married for at least one year and were not divorced before the veteran’s death.

According to McCarthy, those pensions typically account for 87 percent of the cost of assisted living.

Some veterans won’t qualify, McCarthy said, but he has yet to meet someone who needs help but exceeds the financial criteria. The average monthly Social Security income is less than half of the cost of assisted living, he said.

With more than 30 years in health care, McCarthy worked in acute care as a respiratory therapy manager at UPMC Shadyside and Braddock hospitals for 16 years before switching his focus to long-term care.

During the career switch, McCarthy said that he heard about the VA pensions and became interested in promoting them to veterans. Having a father who served in World War II and died in 1994, McCarthy said that he always revered people who served in wars.

After switching his focus to long-term care, McCarthy was finding that many veterans struggled to pay for care. Even after learning of the VA program, McCarthy said that the information that he found—typically lengthy and somewhat complicated application forms—could be confusing for people who knew little about the pensions.

“I found that a good portion of people couldn’t afford it,” he said. “Right now, the cost of assisted living is over $3,200 a month. So, I heard kind of just through the grapevine about a veteran program that could help, and yet, I couldn’t find anything about it, really.”

Researching and writing “Checks for Vets,” which is available for $29.95 from Amazon.com can be ordered through Barnes & Noble’s bookstores and its website, took McCarthy about four years.

McCarthy’s wife, Joanne, helped with the editing process throughout those years; though, she declined to take credit in the book itself.

“The developmental editing was a piece of cake," Joanne said. "It was all the copyediting, corrections and revisions that were hard.”

McCarthy said that he wrote his book to serve as a guide for both aging veterans and the services that represent them, such as The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. Readers can peruse sample forms as well as an index listing VA officers across the nation.

Next month, McCarthy will travel to North Carolina to promote the book and raise awareness of the pensions. Previously, he has toured Ohio and Chicago to promote the book in addition to speaking in the Pittsburgh area.

While there isn’t a shroud of secrecy surrounding the programs, McCarthy said, it’s surprising how well the benefits are hidden in plain view.

Dennis Koman, a veteran service officer with The American Legion, shares that sense of surprise.

When reached by phone this past Friday, Koman said that he had recently finished helping an elderly couple file for the pensions. Some weeks, he can see as many as 40 applications, Koman said, but some other weeks, he sees none.

“We haven’t begun to scratch the surface,” Koman said. “It’s like anything else: The word didn’t get out. The VA didn’t promote it.”

Koman credits McCarthy’s book with helping to stir awareness of the programs, which he says happens largely through word-of-mouth.

A Vietnam War veteran himself, Koman said that he wasn’t aware of the pensions initially. When a VA representative spoke with him after he returned to the country, he did not mention the program, Koman said.

“He wanted me to buy a burial lot,” Koman said. “That’s it.”

According to Koman, who said that his office received an “avalanche” of applications after McCarthy’s book was released, the VA office even called him to see why they were receiving an unusually high number of applications.

In addition to guidance from the book, McCarthy suggests that veterans who apply for the pensions work through an American Legion or VFW post. Their representatives can often help catch errors on the form, expediting what could be a long process of submitting and resubmitting applications.

“They’re right in our backyards; they’re right across the street. They’re—unfortunately for some—maybe still working part-time. You see them with their ball caps on, the World War II vets,” McCarthy said. “And these are people that could very easily use this money.

“That’s really the true pleasure in doing this, to be able to help those kind of veterans. Or there are the surviving spouses, who would enjoy this kind of care that they’ve really earned.”

McCarthy said that he’ll keep advocating for veterans, but he admits that he’s running a tight race against time. Most World War II veterans will die by the end of the decade, he said. The goal is to get the word out before it’s too late.

“Long-term care isn’t sexy,” McCarthy said. “The old saying is, ‘Our old soldiers fade away.’ A lot of times, they’re forgotten.”