Citation Nr: 21066183 Decision Date: 10/28/21 Archive Date: 10/28/21 DOCKET NO. 18-25 689 DATE: October 28, 2021 REMANDED The claim of entitlement to death pension benefits is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran had active duty service from February 1970 to February 1972. He died in August 2017. The appellant is his surviving spouse. The current appeal before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) arises from a September 2017 decision in which a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO), inter alia, denied entitlement to death pension benefits due to shown income exceeding the maximum annual death pension limits set by law. In February 2021, the appellant testified at a virtual hearing before the undersigned Veterans Law Judge. A hearing transcript is of record. Entitlement to death pension benefits The appellant has contended that with the deduction of unreimbursed medical expenses, she would qualify for the payment of death pension benefits. She has provided evidence of multiple payments of medical expenses made following the Veteran's death, however, much of the evidence pertaining to these payments is incomplete and does not clearly indicate who made the actual payments. Additionally, some of the expenses were paid for her son, B. W. Multiple statements and receipts of record note payments for treatment and prescriptions for B. W. Additionally, multiple pharmacy statements, including November 2018 and May 2020 out-of-pocket payment summaries, reflect totals paid for prescriptions, but do not all indicate who the prescriptions were for, and do not indicate whether the payments were paid by the appellant. Further, multiple credit card receipts from various providers and a January 2021 statement from Asheboro Dermatology note credit card payments for services on behalf of the appellant, but do not indicate who made the payments. Notably, the appellant has not completed medical expense reports, on VA Form 21P-8416, for all payments that she has made for her own medical expenses, or for the Veteran's children, or any other relative of the Veteran that she has a moral or legal obligation to support. In this regard, she has not provided any indication as to whether her son, B. W., was also the Veteran's son, as contemplated in 38 C.F.R. § 3.272(g)(2)(i). Additionally, while the record contains a handwritten note indicating that the appellant paid M. T. for assistance with home care, including services such as bathing, skin care, hair care, mouth care, cooking, etc., VA regulations provide that in cases where the appellant has not been shown to need aid and attendance or to be housebound, payments for assistance with activities of daily living must be made to a healthcare provider. 38 C.F.R. § 3.278(d)(2). Here, there is no indication as to whether M. T. is a healthcare provider. Based on the foregoing, remand is warranted in order to allow the appellant to provide all appropriate documentation for her unreimbursed medical expenses, including completed medical expense reports for the first annualization period from August 16, 2017, through August 31, 2018, and for each full calendar year thereafter, and to allow for the Agency of Original Jurisdiction to fully consider all appropriate unreimbursed medical expenses to determine her eligibility for payment of death pension benefits. Accordingly, this matter is hereby REMANDED for the following action: 1. Send a letter to the appellant requesting that she provide VA with all appropriate documentation to identify all unreimbursed medical expenses which she paid for herself, the Veteran's children, or any other relative of the Veteran that she has a moral or legal obligation to support. The appellant should specifically note whether B. W. was also the Veteran's son. Provide the appellant with copies of VA Form 21P-8416, and ask that she provide the requested information on separate forms beginning with the first annualization period, from August 16, 2017, to August 31, 2018, and then for each calendar year thereafter. For any expenses paid for home care assistance, the appellant must specifically identify whether the person that provided such care is a healthcare provider. 2. After completing any additional development deemed necessary, readjudicate the appellant's claim for entitlement to death pension benefits. Such readjudication must include calculation of the appellant's unreimbursed medical expenses for each annualization period during the appeal period. JONATHAN B. KRAMER Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans' Appeals Attorney for the Board Michael Wilson, Counsel The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.