Believe it or not, this is the most common question caregivers ask Debbie Burak, founder of veteranaid.org, about applying for veterans benefits. As the daughter of a WWII veteran, Burak is intimately familiar with the challenges that caregivers face when dealing with the VA. For nine years, she looked after parents who never had enough money to pay for their care needs. It was only after years of scraping together every dollar they could find that Burak discovered her parents had been entitled to approximately $165,000 in VA benefits that they'd never received.

Planning for the future from a legal and financial perspective can be confusing and overwhelming. There are many documents that should be put in place, but sometimes caregivers and their elderly parents don't understand the terms that are used, or what each document is for.

Some seniors end up abandoning their policies, or letting them lapse, by ceasing to pay their monthly premiums. Others surrender their plans in order to receive a pre-determined, "cash surrender value," a lump sum of money that varies in value based on how many payments the policy holder has made and what the overall worth of their policy is.

Many caregivers are confused about the difference between Medicare and Medicaid.