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Veterans’ Homes — Charges Capped at $30 a Day

Long-term care at Chelsea or Holyoke is charged on income above an exemption and capped at $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month. A domiciliary bed is $10 a day. Below the exemption — $300 a month unmarried, $1,500 married — there is no charge.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Long-term care charged at no more than $30 a day, or $930 in a 31-day month

The cap is the published charge schedule at the Holyoke home, which the Commonwealth publishes as the schedule for residents of either home.
Unmarried: no charge up to $300 a month of gross income; between $301 and $1,230 you pay income minus the $300 exemption; at $1,231 and above the cap applies.
Married: no charge up to $1,500 a month with no spousal income; between $1,501 and $2,430 you pay income minus the $1,500 exemption, with spousal income deducted from income; at $2,431 and above the cap applies.
A domiciliary bed is charged at $10.00 a day with the first $300 of monthly income exempt.
This is not the whole cost picture: the home may also apply for other federal or state benefits you are entitled to, including the aid and attendance benefit, and residents must maintain adequate medical insurance including Medicare Part B.

Who is entitled to it

You are a Massachusetts resident.
Your last discharge or release was under honorable conditions.
Your home is in Massachusetts.

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

1Check the service test against the dates. Ninety days of active duty with at least one day during a wartime period, or 180 days of regular active duty in a peacetime period — the chart runs from World War I through the open-ended Persian Gulf period beginning 2 August 1990.
2If you fall short of the minimum service, read the exception: it is not necessary to have completed the minimum for a wartime or peacetime campaign if you served some time in the campaign and were awarded the Purple Heart, or suffered a service-connected disability.
3Present your DD-214 to the admissions office — eligibility is determined from it.
4Be ready to show you are medically and behaviourally suitable for placement in a long-term nursing care facility.
5Open the personal account: residents are required to open one with $300 and maintain a $300 monthly balance, and bills are due by the tenth of the month.
6National Guard and Reserve service counts only in specific forms — active duty for training does not count, and Title 10 or Title 32 activation carries its own day thresholds. Ask the admissions office to work your record against the chart.

Form: Admission application with DD-214
File with: The admissions office at the Chelsea or Holyoke home
Documents you will need: dd214
Annual recertification: The office asks you to confirm each year.

CorrectionThe charge is capped, and that is the fact worth knowing. However high a resident’s income goes, long-term care is charged at no more than $30 a day or $930 in a 31-day month. Families budgeting against private nursing-home rates are usually working from a much larger number.

CorrectionThe minimum service requirement is waivable. A veteran who served some time in a campaign and was awarded the Purple Heart, or who suffered a service-connected disability, does not need to have completed the 90 or 180 days. That exception is on the eligibility page and is routinely dropped from summaries.

Worth knowingThe married band deducts spousal income from income before the calculation and exempts $1,500 a month rather than $300 — the schedule is deliberately gentler on a couple than on a single resident at the same gross income.

Worth knowingAid and attendance is not left with the resident: the homes may apply for and receive other income or benefits the veteran is entitled to, and the charges page names the aid and attendance benefit as an example.

Known gapOutpatient treatment at the homes is closed to three categories by state law — service-connected cases for service-connected disabilities, industrial accident cases, and automobile accident cases involving another party’s insurance and liability. That restriction is on outpatient care, not on residency.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.