Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses how the Department of Veteran Affairs delivers long term care services to veterans with Brian A. Kiernan.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Well, Brian, it’s so great to see you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Always a privilege, Jeff. Thanks for having me.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And I just want to say first, we really appreciate the VA agreeing to have you come on the program. Our veterans are a big part of our daily programming here at BRN. And I know their care is first and foremost at the VA.
So thank you for that. What I was hoping we could talk about is long-term care. This is a topic that among American civilians, we have a lot of people that are going to be age 65 by the year 2030.
And I guess I’ll start by asking you, Brian, within our pool of veterans, and we have a lot of veterans from multiple conflicts, served a lot of different decades. Do we have the same, anecdotally, does it compare? Do we have a lot of veterans who are near age 65 and above?
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Yeah, Jeff, that’s a great question. And actually we do. Right now, the 65 to 84 age group is consistently the largest cohort that we have and will have essentially between 2024 to 2045 in terms of our population projections, and frankly, the expectation is that kind of from 2029, 2030 forward over 85, we’ll see an increase in that population as well.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
So with that being said, and I know the VA, I know firsthand because my, effectively, my stepfather is a veteran and he goes today, he’s in his 80s. He actually goes to the VA in Baltimore and gets great service. But I guess my question is, long story short is, in terms of long-term care services, what is available through the VA and its supportive services?
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Well, you know, I mean, I think we think about long-term care as a long-term care and the VA on multiple fronts. Obviously, you know, a lot of people think long-term care, think long-term care insurance, nursing home, et cetera. You know, the long-term care services that we have and offer to the men and women who have served us and served our nation in uniform are really, really broad and across the board.
You know, we have the capacity to help facilitate nursing home placement with particular nursing homes that are contracted with the VA based on service connection. If you are, you know, above, for example, a 70% service connection, we can help facilitate that placement and, you know, payment for room and board there. There are special provisions for eligible individuals who are on hospice as well to have long-term care.
But really it’s not, you know, we think about long-term care beyond just that nursing home care. We have multiple programs, home health aid programs, veteran directed care programs for veterans who need personal care services and help with activities of daily living where they can, you know, utilize funds to hire their own individuals. We have caregiver support and comprehensive support for caregivers to help those caregivers that are caring for their loved ones in their home that require long-term care.
We have home-based primary care services. So primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, social workers, OTPT can provide services to individuals in their homes to help maintain them in the community and meet their long-term care needs. VA is able to assist with adult day care services.
Medical foster homes are a particular service that we can help offer. You know, states often, most states have state veterans homes. They’re not necessarily directly run or affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs on a federal level, but the states often have veterans homes.
You know, we have all of these opportunities available again for the men and women who have served our country. Some of them may have co-pays, some of them may have marginal co-pays, some of them don’t, you know, and that’s something that a veteran when they’re seeing their primary care physician can discuss with them and their social worker. But we really are committed to meeting the needs of veterans, not just in nursing homes, but making sure their long-term care needs are met in the community, in their homes, whatever environment they’re in.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And, and I like that you, you, you talk, thank you for that, Brian. And I liked that you talked about meeting with the primary care physician, the social, I’m going to call it a social worker. I think that’s the term you use.
If I’m a veteran and I want to know the benefits that are available to me. And by the way, I know several years ago, we did an interview with the VA. You were, the organization was just starting to do a new rollout of a new app.
And I think that would, that app was really designed to homogenize or bring together the application process, make it much more simpler, but how do I go about, if I’m a veteran today, I’m watching the program, I just want to have access to these, find out what my services availability are and how do I apply for them?
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Absolutely. There’s a couple of ways you can do that. You can reach out to your county veteran service commission in whatever state you’re in, and they often help with applications for VA benefits and for other services as well.
You can contact your local VA medical center and just ask to speak to the social work department. We’re more than happy to kind of take a few minutes to talk to you about enrollment, eligibility, et cetera. You know, you can, if you are enrolled at the VA, you know, you can always talk with your primary care physician.
You can always talk with your primary care social worker, and we’re happy to walk through additional benefits or additional resources that may be eligible or you may be eligible for or available to you.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. I mean, there’s so many ways to reach out. I feel like, I feel like the VA, I don’t, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but just from the outside looking in really has stepped its game up over the last decade to really reach veterans.
Are there a lot of, let me just anecdotally ask you, are there, are there a lot of veterans who maybe are unaware of services that exist today?
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Jeff, that’s a great question. And I think there are, honestly. I mean, I think we’re always surprised by the number of veterans that are unaware of what they are, or they think, oh, I had to have been a wartime veteran or, you know, I had to have been in service under these specific, specific circumstances to receive VA benefits.
And that’s not necessarily true. And if we think about legislation lately, you know, the Cleland Dole Act, the VA PACT Act, you know, there’s been lots of opportunity and, and, you know, an increase in enrollment and opportunity for services to be provided to our veterans.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah. And I would say that just again, anecdotally, I think the Congress on both sides of the aisle, I don’t want to, you don’t have to say anything, but I think they’re very much focused on our veterans. They want to deliver services like long-term care.
And look, there’s a, there’s a clear need here because like everyone we’re aging, they’re aging, and we need to make sure that we have to provide the best services. Brian, we’re going to leave it there. So great to see you.
Thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having you and the VA back on the program again, very soon.
Brian A. Kiernan, MSSA, LISW-S, ACHP-SW, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Great privilege. Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it.