Veterans’ Homes — Six Locations the Legislature Will Not Let Close
Admission runs to veterans who lived here when they entered the armed forces OR who live here now, plus spouses, widows, widowers and Gold Star parents. Statute fixes six locations and forbids any of them closing without a legislative hearing.
Verified August 22, 2026
What this benefit is
Admission runs to veterans who lived here when they entered the armed forces OR who live here now, plus spouses, widows, widowers and Gold Star parents. Statute fixes six locations and forbids any of them closing without a legislative hearing.
What it's worth: Long-term care at one of six statutory locations, on charges the board sets by rule
- No rate is claimed here because none is published in statute. The charges section, §608, was repealed in 2015.
- The weight reflects what long-term care costs privately, which is the alternative, not a figure the homes publish.
Who is entitled to it
- You are the veteran.
- Spouses, widows and widowers of eligible veterans may be admitted, as may Gold Star parents.
- Your discharge is honorable.
- You are in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1The residency test has two alternative limbs and you only need one: you were a resident here at the time you entered the armed forces, OR you are a resident here at the time you apply. Someone who left decades ago and never came back still reaches it on the first limb.
- 2There is no combat requirement and no service-connected disability requirement. Peacetime service counts, and one or more days on active duty is enough. Reserve service counts where it was active duty for other than training purposes.
- 3A spouse must independently qualify for a nursing home or assisted living level of care. Being married to an eligible veteran is not on its own an admission ticket.
- 4Gold Star parents are named in statute: parents of service members killed in action or who die as a consequence of wounds received in battle.
- 5Veterans take priority, and by federal law no more than 25 percent of a home’s residents may be non-veterans — so the family routes queue behind veterans in practice.
- 6Financial eligibility is settled before admission: direct admission as a full-pay private patient, or an application through the state Medicaid programme that determines financial eligibility and medical necessity.
- 7Missing your discharge paperwork does not stop the application — the homes help applicants request records from the federal agencies and the national personnel records centre.
- Form
- Written application on the form the chief executive officer prescribes
- File with
- The admissions coordinator at the home you want
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- Annual recertification
- The office asks you to confirm each year.
Sources
- authority · statute37-B M.R.S. §607 (admission), §601 (purpose and the six locations), §604(7) (board rules on just charges)
- operating · published policyMaine Veterans’ Homes — eligibility for admission
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.