Eligibility Guidelines - Veterans and VA Survivors Pension Program

The FCC’s 2016 Lifeline Modernization Order included revisions to accepted eligibility documentation for recipients of the LifeLine Program.

Two new benefit programs were added as qualifying Programs: the Veterans’ Pensions and the Survivors’ Pensions. Both programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

Eligibility for both programs require the yearly family income to meet requirements set by Congress. Consequently, low-income U.S. Veterans and their survivors who receive these pension benefits also meet the income criteria for LifeLine.

Veterans Pension Program

The Veterans Pension program (also known as the Improved Disability Pension) provides monthly payments to wartime veterans who meet certain age or disability requirements, and who have income and net worth within certain limits.
At least one of the following conditions must be true:

• The wartime veteran is at least 65 years old, or
• The wartime veteran has a permanent and total disability, or
• The wartime veteran is a patient in a nursing home for long-term care because of a disability, or
• The wartime veteran receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

VA Survivors Pension Program

The VA Survivors Pension (also known as the Improved Death Pension) offers monthly payments to qualified surviving spouses and unmarried dependent children of wartime veterans who meet certain income and net worth limits set by Congress.
A child of a deceased wartime veteran may be eligible for a VA Survivors Pension if the child is unmarried and meets one of the following conditions:

• Under age 18, or
• Under age 23 and attending a VA-approved school, or
• Unable to care for self due to a disability that happened before age 18

Acceptable Proof of Veterans Pension Program and VA Survivors Pension Program Participation

• A Veterans Administration Benefit Payment History which identifies the benefit as a Veterans Pension or a VA Survivors Pension
• A Veterans Administration Summary of Benefits letter which identifies the benefit as a Veterans’ Pension or a VA Survivors’ Pension
• A Veterans Administration approval/grant letter which identifies the benefit as a Veterans’ Pension or a VA Survivors’ Pension
• A Veterans Administration cost of living adjustment (COLA) notice which identifies the benefit affected as a Veterans’ Pension or a VA Survivors’ Pension