At $13,339 a month on average, a private nursing home bed in Maine costs about $160,000 a year1. Few families can carry that for long, so the questions are how long Aid and Attendance can stretch savings, and what MaineCare leaves a parent once it takes over.
Maine’s answer to the second question is unusually generous for veterans: $130 a month for personal needs instead of $40.
Maine's 2026 nursing home numbers
| Figure | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average nursing facility private rate (also the penalty divisor) | $13,339 a month |
| Nursing facility income limit | $2,982 a month |
| Asset limit, single / couple | $2,000 / $3,000 |
| Community spouse asset limit | $162,660 |
| Nursing facility personal needs allowance | $40 a month |
State planning figures; each facility sets its own rate.
Source: 2026 MaineCare Eligibility Guidelines1
DHHS uses the $13,339 average private rate as MaineCare’s penalty divisor too1. Compare that with the most a single veteran can get in Aid and Attendance, $2,424 a month2: helpful, but income and savings still cover most of a private bill.
Why Maine veterans keep $130
Here’s the federal piece: once a veteran or surviving spouse with no spouse or dependent child is on Medicaid in a Medicaid-approved nursing home, VA lowers the pension to $90 a month, and the nursing home can’t take that $903. Maine’s manual adds to that. The personal needs deduction becomes $130 instead of $40 for someone getting the reduced $90 VA pension outside a VA facility, and for a single veteran in a VA nursing facility who receives a VA pension4. On a separate track, MaineCare excludes Aid and Attendance from income, except that benefits over $90 count toward the cost of care for a single veteran or surviving spouse without dependents in a state veterans nursing home4.
An Augusta veteran's two stages
A single Army veteran in Augusta has $2,100 a month in Social Security and a small pension, plus $60,000 saved. Paying privately, he receives the full $2,424 a month from VA2. Once his savings reach $2,000, he’s eligible for MaineCare, and because he has no spouse or dependent, VA trims his pension to $9031. MaineCare then lets him keep $130 a month for personal needs rather than $40; the rest of his income goes to his cost of care4.
Why the private-pay months matter
A veteran or surviving spouse living in a nursing home is treated by VA as needing Aid and Attendance on that basis alone5. The facility completes VA Form 21-0779, and the private bill counts as a medical expense67.
MaineCare's nursing facility rules
- Income test. $2,982 a month for nursing facility MaineCare in 20261.
- Assets. $2,000 single, $3,000 couple; one person may exclude up to $8,000 in savings ($12,000 for a couple)1.
- Community spouse. May keep up to $162,6601.
- Transfers. Gifts in the 60 months before applying: amount ÷ $13,339 = months of ineligibility14.
- Home equity. There's a cap for long-term care; ask the DHHS office for this year's number4.
- Level of care. Maximus confirms nursing facility need8.
Maine Veterans' Homes for nursing care
Long-term care at MVH needs a Maximus evaluation and is paid privately, by MaineCare, or by VA for veterans rated 70% or higher9. Get current rates from each home. See our veterans homes guide and compare Maine nursing homes.
VA eligibility in a nursing home
- Wartime service. A minimum of 90 days of active duty, with one or more days inside a recognized wartime period. Enlisted after Sept. 7, 1980? Then it's usually 24 months, or the full stretch you were called to serve10.
- Discharge. Any characterization other than dishonorable.
- Net worth. Countable assets added to annual income can't top $163,699. VA looks at transfers in the prior 36 months, and the home itself, on a parcel of up to two acres, is excluded111213.
- Medical need. For a nursing home, the doctor's Form 21-2680 has to describe needing help with activities of daily living, or being kept safe from daily hazards1415. A nursing home resident's 21-0779 from the facility generally covers this.
- Age. Applicants 65 and older meet the disability part automatically; younger applicants must be permanently and totally disabled.
Expensive mistakes
Filing from a Maine nursing home
- Phone MBVS. A Maine Veteran Service Officer will help with the Aid and Attendance claim at no cost. Have them submit an intent to file before anything else; it locks in your start date for as long as a year while you collect papers16. See how an intent to file works.
- Get the medical form done. The doctor fills in VA Form 21-2680. For someone already in a nursing facility, the facility uses 21-0779156.
- Choose 527EZ or 534EZ. Veterans use VA Form 21P-527EZ; surviving spouses use 21P-534EZ. Send income, asset and care-cost records along with it1718.
- Talk to the business office. Coordinate the MaineCare application with the VA claim.