I've been in the system for a while, but never really used it much. Initially I got in thinking I would use it for a house loan. I had good health insurance from my previous employers so why deal with them. New employer has crap or ACA, and I'm in that magic area where either option is $$$ even though I'm now poor.

I've been using them recently because $ and my quality of life had deteriorated to that level, how does emergency services work? If I need to go in for say a broken bone or something emergent. Do I just bebop into the local hospital and flash my VA card, or do I need to get triage and pay out the ass until the VA can see me?

I wish there were pamphlets or a website that actually walked you through this. If there is one they hide it like the devil to reduce customer interaction.

The VA is a mixed bag so far, the first few appointments were pleasant and fast, today was a black mark. 3 receptionist,  2 actively working with patients,  but they had issue's. 3rd sectioned off by herself actively engaged with her phone, don't know what her purpose was other than to answer rando questions and tic Tok. 30 minutes in line and 3 in front of me and 8 behind me. just to check in.

VA thread!
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There are different tiers depending on income, Start at the VA website.

VA.gov

If you have to go to a hospital emergency room, or other urgent care facility, you must notify the VA (within 72 hours) at 1 (844) 724-7842.
Check with your local VA to confirm the phone #.
The amount of VA $ coverage may be dependent upon your disability rating.
Sometimes the VA will square you away, other times not so much.
Also, the local VA Medical Center will have an emergency nurse you can telephone, explain symptoms/situation, & get a recommendation to go to the emergency room. Log poc, time, & details, etc. Get the emergency nurse number from VA MEDCEN.

Use urgent care or the ER at your VA hospital.

GD V.A. medical thread.

Boomer Vet Brosef, it isn't hidden. Google VA Emergency Care





https://www.va.gov/initiatives/emergency-room-911-or-urgent-care/



https://www.va.gov/resources/choosing-between-urgent-and-emergency-care/





https://www.va.gov/find-locations/?facilityType=urgent_care



https://www.va.gov/find-locations/?facilityType=emergency_care

A buddy of mine went to the VA the other day. Doctor looks at him, and says, "okay all good, you all good", buddy said, no, I'm not all Good, I have this and this going on.

VA doctor then asks buddy if my buddy "knows french?" As the VA Doctor does not know English very well, and would be easier to speak french as he had was from North Africa.

https://www.va.gov/resources/getting-urgent-care-at-va-or-in-network-community-providers/

If you aren't signed up for my healthevet make sure you do so.

You call the VA triage nurse, who will tell you to report to the nearest ER. Two to three years later, you'll get a letter stating that they won't cover the ER visit.

Enjoy.

It's called Practicing Medicine for a reason

Questions linger after veteran burned himself alive outside N.J. VA clinic

Air Force veteran sets himself on fire to protest treatment by VA

An hour ago I got home from a 3 day VA visit that started with a ultrasound of my bladder and such, got rushed to the ER, then admitted.  I now have a pretty Foley catheter.  

I can not think of a negative thing to say.  Great people, excellent food, good (but painful) ER experience.

What to know if you go to a non-VA facility for emergency care

The facility must be an emergency department

We can only cover the cost of emergency care at an emergency department. An emergency department is a facility that has the staff and equipment to provide emergency care (like a hospital or free-standing emergency department).

Urgent care facilities don’t qualify as emergency departments. If you’re not sure what type of facility you should go to, we can help.

Learn more about choosing between emergency and urgent care

We must get notified of your care within 72 hours

Ask the provider to notify us right away in either of these ways:

Through our VA emergency care reporting portal, or
By calling us at 844-724-7842 (TTY: 711)
We must get the notification within 72 hours of when your emergency care starts. We prefer that the provider notify us. But if they don’t, you or someone acting on your behalf can notify us instead.

We can only cover emergency care when you meet certain requirements

Keep reading to learn more about eligibility requirements for emergency mental health care and other types of emergency care.

Emergency care eligibility requirements

Eligibility for emergency mental health care

In most cases, we will provide or cover the cost of your emergency mental health care and up to 90 days of related services—even if you’re not enrolled in VA health care.

If a health care provider or a trained crisis responder determines you’re at risk of immediate self-harm, we can provide or cover the cost of your care if you meet at least one of these requirements:

You were sexually assaulted, battered, or harassed while serving in the Armed Forces, or
You served on active duty for more than 24 months and didn’t get a dishonorable discharge, or
You served more than 100 days under a combat exclusion or in support of a contingency operation (including as a member of the Reserve) and didn’t get a dishonorable discharge. You meet this requirement if you served directly or if you operated an unmanned aerial vehicle from another location.
If you go to a non-VA emergency department for help, tell the staff you’re a Veteran. Ask them to contact us right away.

Eligibility for all other emergency care

General eligibility requirements

By law, we can only cover the cost of your care at a non-VA emergency department if you meet all of these requirements:

You’re enrolled in VA health care or you have a qualifying exemption from enrollment, and
A VA health care facility or other federal facility that could provide the needed care wasn’t “feasibly available” (meaning it was too far away for you to get there fast enough to get the emergency care you needed), and
A person with an average knowledge of health and medicine (called a “prudent layperson”) would reasonably believe that a delay in seeking care would have put your life or health in danger, and
You meet our other requirements based on your specific situation—including the time limit for us to receive your claim. Keep reading to learn more about requirements for different situations.
Note: We only cover non-VA emergency care until we can safely transfer you to a VA or other federal facility. The only time this rule doesn’t apply is if the community provider contacts us and we can’t accept your transfer.

More emergency care coverage requirements

In addition to the general eligibility requirements, you must also meet these other requirements based on your specific situation.

Expand all +

Authorized emergency care

Unauthorized emergency care for service-connected conditions

Unauthorized emergency care for non-service-connected conditions

If you have other health insurance

Emergency care in countries outside the U.S.
What to do if you’re charged for emergency care

If you get a bill for emergency care at a non-VA facility and you think we should cover the cost, we can help. Call us at 877-881-7618 (TTY: 711). We’re here Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.

We’ll go over the charges with you and help figure out who should cover the cost of your care. We can also help resolve billing issues with community providers.

Find out how to file a claim for reimbursement of non-VA medical expenses

https://www.va.gov/resources/getting-emergency-care-at-non-va-facilities/

https://www.va.gov/resources/reimbursement-of-non-va-prescriptions-or-medical-expenses/

Might also see if you have a service related illness or get your rating.  

Call the Va number, but if it’s an ER type emergency goto the nearest hospital.

Find a VA Service Officer to walk you throuth the maze/hall of mirrors.

https://www.va.gov/get-help-from-accredited-representative/find-rep/

Sorry late Gen X, please try again, however thanks for the help. Not everyone has all of the answers or the knowledge to ask the right questions to save themselves from Govt. Hell.

Sometimes asking for help from someone who has been there and done it is easier than stabbing in the dark. Plus most know you're having a tough time and would like to lighten your load a little bit. I've been in both places at different times of my life.

Stupid question.

Currently have tricare select.  About to be ineligible for that. I qualify for VA Healthcare [ I think ].

How do I cover my wife and kids ? As in , how do I get Obama care for just them.  

That's the best advice that I've gotten out of this thread and it made something click in my head, and that's why I love this place! they are paid service officers to guide you through the process,  the can also guide me through the mileage reimbursement because I'm an hour from. My nearest facility.  I wish I could do everything community care like my dermatologist.

The only thing I ever used the VA for was mortgages.

Am i in before the “why do we pay health care benefits for Veterans?” Yet?

Totally correct info.

That's a pretty specific question that has a lot of follow on's. Age of the junior dependent?
If you are married and you rate, or are retired your spouse should be on your Tri-care ticket already, unless she had some pretty kick ass bennifits. Also I  don't understand losing your VA bennifits,  unless you are transitioned from AD to VET status or you pull some serious dumb stunt that gathers attention you should retain them for life and as injuries go they can increase in severity.

I’ll oblige.

Why does someone with a single enlistment, let alone being released prior to fulfilling that enlistment, double let alone after their other than or general discharge-

Thing the VA is on the hook for their lifelong primary care, OB care, normal life non service related care, etc.?

Boomer is a state of mind as much as it is a generation, just sayin'

Just funnin' you bro and you're welcome.

Your county likely has a VA service officer. Disabled American Veterans is a good organization too, no bar or bingo, they just work to help vets, and they can likely help you out too.

There's a link online to submit mileage claims, I just did my first one since I had an appointment at the VA hospital in La Jolla instead of the clinic that's 5 minutes away.

https://www.va.gov/health-care/get-reimbursed-for-travel-pay/#file-a-claim-for-general-healt

It's pretty easy.

Edit: just looked at my mileage claim, it was approved for payment today, been 6 days since I submitted it.

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They're ratardad?

The only thing I've used is the VA loan.  Being retired I get Tricare for medical.

I use both Tricare and the V.A. for medical.

The biggest thing is Tricare doesn't cover hearing aids, the V.A. does.  Sometimes I can get in faster with the V.A. for an appointment for other stuff, sometimes the Naval Hospital is faster, my primary care for Tricare is the family practice clinic at the hospital.  If I need an emergency room visit I go on base to the Naval hospital it's only 10 mins away.

1.5 years old. I'm about to get medically separated with no bennies ( 17 years of service )

This

My son wrecked his car, since he was covered under VA they paid the local ER for his injuries.

It is a pretty simple concept:

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I believe in the principle but I would have liked to see a small government agency with public and private contracts when needed, but as with most of government we get a lot more government than we want/need.

@denwad

depending on your VA rating your family could be eligible for CHAMP VA.  


i’m 100% disabled, and a couple of years ago my wife and I decided we were going to switch all of our healthcare to the VA.   We own the business we were getting private healthcare through so we were paying over $40k a year for health insurance.

I now receive healthcare through the VA, my wife and kids (ages 22,18 and 12) through CHAMP VA


the reality is i think my dependents have it better than I do.   once their enrollment was complete it was pretty much like they had private health insurance.   choose a doctor, make an appointment, make sure they take CHAMP VA (if they take tricare, medicaid/medicare or any other government plan, they will) and go to them    If you need an ER visit you just go and give them your CHAMP VA card   None of the jumping through hoops described in this thread    


I, on the other hand, have to do all the things described in this thread.   When i switched to the VA it took me 5 months to get in with my primary care team (whereas my dependents were just seeing who they wanted).   And then the primary team had to refer me to the specialists I needed.   While I waited for all this to work its way through the system I had to keep paying out of pocket to see my private doctors because not receiving the care I needed was not an option.   no lie, from the time i started that process to when i finally was enrolled with all the specialists and primal care people i needed was 10 months  

Now, once i got everything squared away, the people I’ve now sssn for over a year have been great   Look up how community care works as well. That will likely be near some of the links you already have


TL;DR/   it took me 10 months for the VA to take over all my care   My wife and kids got CHAMP VA which pretty much kicked in immediately and is way more sinilar to how private insurance works than the VA care I get

Your best bet is contacting a veteran service organization (American Legion, DAV, etc.) They will be able to answer all of your questions and get you as squared away as possible. Seriously, go through a VSO and don’t do your own paperwork. It will save you a lot of heartache.

You will most likely be eligible for VA healthcare and your dependents may qualify for CHAMPVA benefits. You can start the process of filing a claim before you separate.

See if there is an in-network urgent care provider for VA near you. I know that I have 4 within 10 miles of my home.

Other than that, the details for emergency care in this thread are right from the website. It's pretty straightforward.

Come On In!
I dislike being about the only poster there!

In my experience, getting health care at the VA is like getting healthcare at the DMV for the most part. I needed shoulder surgery last year and ended up having to buy private insurance during open enrollment and having the surgery in January.  The VA is good for eyeglasses and cheap viagra.

I get to see a doctor of my choice in local
community because I live more than 40  miles
from a VA facility.  You can too.

Because it's welfare.