Va Caregiver Stipends Health Benefits Explained

Now, other than that stipend at tier one, tier two, tier three, now at those tiers, Byron, it's basically how much the stipend is based upon the level of care needed by the veteran. That, and it's also determined by the location of the veteran and caregiver, where they live, basically. Okay. So somebody in San Francisco that lives in a high-end area, and there's a lot more costs associated with just living there, they're going to be rated at a higher level of reimbursement. I don't want to say reimbursement. That's a bad term. But the stipend is going to be large. larger for them. Based upon cost of living? Based upon cost of living. Okay, for the area. And they determine that based on what somebody, if they were having to pay somebody to come into the home, they try to adjust it so that it's near to what somebody from an outside agency might be making if they came in and provided similar assistance. Okay, and we don't want to talk numbers because I don't want to talk out of school, but to those listening right now, go check out and find out what the Tier 1, Tier 2, 3 is. We don't really have the time to go into what levels and there's going to be a lot of questions in that, but just understand understanding what that warfighter needs. Many people qualify for this. You really need to check it out. Other than the stipend benefit, if I'm not mistaken, there's a healthcare benefit as well? Health insurance? Once a caregiver is approved, we strongly encourage them that if they already have healthcare, that they keep that because there's no guarantee that the veteran is going to continue to need the care that they're providing. Right. Or other issues can come up where they would, if they give up their healthcare, they've already got, which may or may not be better than what the VA can offer. they may not be able to get that back once they lose that. So we really encourage them, if they've already got healthcare, keep it. But if they don't have healthcare, and that's something that is, especially with a lot of the caregivers that are really not attending to their own needs the way they need to be, they do qualify for CHAMPAS, which is similar to TRICARE. CHAMPAS was around before TRICARE was around. And it provides for a doctor. I'm trying to think of the other resources. I believe they have some dental services I'm not sure if they provide mental health, but I think that might be an aspect of it. But it's basically insurance. Right. And so talk to your caregiver support coordinator. They can get you a copy of the CHAMPAS for caregivers. resource book, it's an insurance booklet and we can send that out to you and you can take a look at if you're a caregiver and you need that resource to keep yourself healthy. Now everybody listening out there, you really need to spread the word. Once I post the show up on YouTube, you need to send it to other people, get people listening because it's not like the VA is going to pay for some sort of advertising and commercials and all this kind of stuff. The way we learn about things as a warfighter is through word of mouth. So please share this information. If you know a warfighter, and they're a warfighter from the current era, please tell them about the caregiver program. If you are in northern Nevada, go see Byron Parks. If you're anywhere else in the country listening on YouTube, go out there and check. Or if you're listening online, we have a huge streaming audience. But go in there and check the local VA system and find the caregiver support coordinator,