This has to do with the Veteran or surviving spouse getting a years pension payment, prior to application date, IF they qualified for pension the prior year.

Example:

A year ago, Mom and Dad would have qualified if they had known about the pension, therefore they should get payment back 1 year.  The problem with this is, most of the time they would not have qualified because assets were not moved a year ago or there was not a Caregiver in  place, therefore when you snapshot their situation at one year prior, they would not have qualified for these reason.  This can work in some situations but not many.

Always snapshot when the client would have become qualified but most of the time, they would not have been qualified until assets were moved, a caregiver was in place or they were in an assisted or nursing facility.