Home Care for Veterans: What the VA’s Homemaker/Home Health Aide Program Actually Covers
If you’re a veteran who needs help at home or caring for one, there’s a VA benefit that can provide in-home care for eligible veterans. It’s called the Homemaker/Home Health Aide program, and it’s one of the most practical VA benefits available.
Options Home Care is a contracted provider for this program. Here’s what you need to know.
What is the Homemaker/Home Health Aide Program?
The VA’s Homemaker/Home Health Aide (H/HHA) program sends trained caregivers into veterans’ homes to help with daily activities. This includes personal care like bathing, dressing, and grooming. It includes help with meals, light housekeeping, and medication reminders. It’s the kind of support that helps veterans stay in their own homes instead of moving to a facility.
The care is provided by agencies like ours that contract with the VA. For many veterans, especially those with service-connected disabilities, there’s no copay. Others may have a copay based on their VA disability status, but it’s often far less than paying out of pocket.
Who Qualifies?
The H/HHA program is available to veterans enrolled in VA healthcare who need help with activities of daily living. You don’t need to have a service-connected disability to qualify, though that can affect whether you have a copay.
The program is also available for veterans who are isolated, or when a family caregiver is experiencing burden—something the VA specifically recognizes as a reason for services.
Eligibility is determined by your VA healthcare team. If you’re already receiving care through the VA, ask your primary care provider or social worker about a referral. If you’re not enrolled in VA healthcare, that’s the first step.
What Kind of Help Do You Get?
Our caregivers provide hands-on assistance with the things that become harder as health changes:
Personal care — bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, mobility assistance
Household support — light housekeeping, laundry, meal preparation
Health-related tasks — medication reminders, monitoring for health changes
Companionship — conversation, engagement, reducing isolation
The specific services depend on what the veteran needs and what the VA authorizes. A VA social worker assesses your daily living needs, and a registered nurse supervises the care plan. Services can be several times a week or less frequent, depending on your situation—and you can continue receiving care as long as you need the support.
Why This Matters
Many veterans resist asking for help. They’re used to being self-sufficient. But needing assistance with daily activities isn’t weakness—it’s a reality of aging or managing chronic health conditions.
The H/HHA program exists because the VA recognizes that keeping veterans at home, with proper support, leads to better outcomes than institutional care. It’s a benefit veterans have earned.
The Medication Piece
As a pharmacist-owned agency, we pay attention to something most home care providers overlook: medications.
Veterans often receive prescriptions from both VA and non-VA providers. Those medication lists don’t always get compared. The result can be duplications, interactions, or side effects that get blamed on “just getting older” when they’re actually medication-related.
Confusion, dizziness, falls, fatigue—these are common in older veterans, and they’re also common medication side effects. When our caregivers are in the home, we’re watching for these patterns. It’s part of how we approach care.
How to Get Started
If you’re a veteran who needs help at home:
- Make sure you’re enrolled in VA healthcare (if not, start at va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000)
- Talk to your VA primary care provider or social worker about home care needs
- Ask specifically about the Homemaker/Home Health Aide program
- Request Options Home Care as your provider (we serve Greensboro, Burlington, and surrounding areas)
If you’re a family member trying to arrange care, the process is the same—it starts with the veteran’s VA healthcare team.
Have questions about whether this program might work for your situation? Call us. We can explain how it works and what to expect.
