At home, in a facility, or wherever the veteran lives
Hospice care for veterans in San Bernardino and Riverside counties
A veteran can receive hospice care at home through Medicare, through VA health care, or both. Veterans with Medicare use the Medicare hospice benefit and may choose any Medicare-certified hospice. Veterans enrolled in VA health care can also receive hospice through the VA, which may arrange care from a community hospice. This page explains the two paths, how to start, and what is different about caring for a veteran at the end of life.
Reviewed by Beta Hospice compliance, October 12, 2026
On this page (6 sections)
What is different about caring for a veteran at the end of life?
The illness is often the same as for anyone else. What differs is the history the person carries into the last months. Some conditions are connected to service, and a VA disability rating or an open claim can affect benefits for the family.
Many veterans live with post-traumatic stress, sometimes for decades without naming it. Pain, new medicines and the loss of control can bring memories back. A calm approach matters: fewer people in the room, each step explained first, asking before touching. The team should ask about service gently, then let the veteran decide how much to say.
Most veterans want to be recognized. A thank-you for service or a small ceremony with the family can change the last weeks. Some want none of that, and that is respected too.
How is hospice for a veteran paid for?
| Your situation | Who pays for hospice | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Medicare only | The Medicare hospice benefit, like anyone else with Medicare Part A. | You may choose any Medicare-certified hospice. Medicare covers hospice care related to the terminal illness. Under Medicare, most people pay nothing for hospice care itself. There can be a copay of up to $5 per prescription for symptom medicines and 5% of the Medicare amount for inpatient respite care. Medicare does not pay room and board where you live. |
| Enrolled in VA health care, no Medicare | The VA. Hospice is part of the VA standard medical benefits package for enrolled veterans who meet the clinical need. The VA provides it directly or arranges it from a community hospice. | The VA says there are no copays for hospice, whether the VA provides it or a contracted organization does. Community hospice care needs a VA referral or authorization first. The VA has its own rules on what treatment may continue alongside hospice. |
| Both Medicare and VA health care | Either one, not both at once. | Veterans with both often use Medicare for hospice and keep the VA for other care and benefits. Ask the VA social worker which path keeps the veteran's other VA benefits in place. |
A veteran whose hospice the VA will pay for should ask the VA social worker which community hospices the VA can authorize.
How do you start?
- Step 1
The family can call Beta
Tell us where the veteran lives and whether they have Medicare, VA health care or both. Details are on the contact page.
- Step 2
The VA social worker or doctor can refer
The VA Loma Linda Healthcare System serves veterans in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and its listed services include palliative and hospice care and social work. Its palliative care team or social work office can start the referral and, when the VA is paying, the authorization. Clinicians can use our referral page.
- Step 3
A doctor certifies eligibility
Hospice is for people with a serious illness when a doctor certifies that life expectancy is six months or less if the illness runs its usual course. Our medical director and your doctor make that determination. A website cannot.
What Beta does for a veteran and the family
- A hospice nurse answers the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and can visit when needed.
- We care for people wherever they call home, including nursing facilities, RCFEs (residential care facilities for the elderly) and board-and-care homes, in coordination with facility staff.
- Grief support for the family for 13 months after a death. See bereavement support.
Benefits after a death
The VA offers burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and some family members: burial in a VA national cemetery, a headstone or marker, a Presidential Memorial Certificate and a burial allowance. A family can apply for a pre-need eligibility decision in advance. Start at VA burials and memorials (opens in a new tab). The VA, not the hospice, decides these benefits. Our social worker can help the family find the right VA office.
Questions veterans and families ask
Does a veteran have to use a VA hospice?
No. A veteran with Medicare may choose any Medicare-certified hospice. A veteran whose hospice the VA pays for receives it from the VA or from a community hospice the VA authorizes.
Can the veteran keep VA doctors and medicines on hospice?
Often, yes, for conditions unrelated to the terminal illness. Which medicines the hospice covers is worked out at the start. Ask us and the VA team before care begins.
What is We Honor Veterans?
A national program of the National Alliance for Care at Home that gives hospices guidance on caring for veterans and recognizes them with tiered partner levels. It is a program, not a license.
Is hospice different if the veteran lives in a facility?
The benefit is the same. The hospice team visits the facility and coordinates with its staff. Room and board is paid separately. See where care happens.
About this page
- Written by
- Beta Hospice care team
- Reviewed by
- Beta Hospice compliance
- Last reviewed
- October 12, 2026
- Next review
- April 12, 2027
How we write and review this site
Sources
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Hospice care (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Palliative care (opens in a new tab)
- VA Loma Linda Healthcare System: health services (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Burials and memorials (opens in a new tab)
- We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Alliance for Care at Home (opens in a new tab)
- Medicare.gov: Hospice care coverage (opens in a new tab)
- 42 CFR Part 418: Hospice care (opens in a new tab)
These sources support the general information on this page. For one personās care and coverage, talk with the hospice team.
You do not have to decide alone.
Call (844) 646-4434 any time, or leave your number and someone from Beta's hospice team will call you. No decision is needed to call. Most families start with a question.
Only a hospice doctor, together with the personās own doctor, can confirm hospice eligibility. A website cannot.
- A nurse answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- You can stop hospice at any time
- You have the right to choose your hospice