Does Social Security Disability Count Against VA Pension

By Sandra Dalton

The Veterans Administration pension program is a needs-based program. Veteran pension benefits are for wartime veterans who have little or no income. Social Security disability benefits do count against your VA pension.

The amount of your VA pension benefit is calculated by adding up all of your countable family income and subtracting that from the annual pension limit. You receive the difference. Countable family income includes the income of your spouse and minor children, as well as your income. Disability payments made to you, your spouse or your minor children are considered income.

The VA death pension is for surviving spouses who have not remarried, and unmarried children of wartime veterans who have died. It is still a needs-based program, and the amount you can receive is calculated in the same way as the pension benefits for living veterans. Social Security disability payments will count as income.

Although Supplemental Security Income is also awarded by the Social Security Administration to people with disabilities, it is not considered income and does not count against VA pensions.

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