VA Healthcare And Community Care

[Cody Fousnaugh]

I know Bobby is a Vietnam Vet, as well as myself (Navy), but don't know how much, if any, he uses his VA Medical.

I started using my VA Medical in 1996, if I remember right. That was the year that the company I was working for started making employees pay for medical insurance. Due to my hourly salary, I simply couldn't afford that, so I started using my VA Medical. I've only had one surgery in a VA Hospital and that was in 1998 due to a solo motorcycle accident. My hip replacement, in 2005, and my right rotator cuff surgery, in 2007, were paid for thru company insurance I had at the time for employment.

When I was eligible for Medicare, I read that having both VA Medical and Medicare was beneficial. So, I got Medicare A/B and a drug supplement. However, today (2025), monthly Medicare premium isn't as cheap as it use to be and neither is the deductible. I have no Medicare doctor, but, after we move, I'm going to finally get one. The VA Clinics I've been to don't do much "medically", so they will send a Vet to a VA Hospital. Those hospitals are way, way to far away from where we've lived. I'm now using Community Care Network from the VA, but, for myself, I don't think it's as reliable as Medicare is.

So, anyone here, besides Bobby and I, are Veterans and use VA Medical and/or Community Care thru the VA Medical?

 

[Don Alaska]

I use the VA some too, @Cody Fousnaugh. I have never had surgery in a VA hospital, as the closest one is in Seattle 2600 miles away. We can get care at the base hospital in Anchorage, but my wife cannot visit me if I do, nor could my children and their families. The VA has been good for many things under Community Care, but their billing system, like all Federal Healthcare billing, really sucks. Having VA benefits and Medicare doesn't really help, but having Medicaid does. At least in Alaska, you cannot bill both Medicare and the VA system. You can, however, bill the VA and have private insurance pick up the extras such as copay and coinsurance.

 

[Cody Fousnaugh]

One big, sometimes huge, difference I see in Medicare and VA Community Care Network, is: With Medicare, a Veteran has to have a Medicare PCP give a referral to have any type of physical exam, like Ultrasound, done. VA Community Care, the Veteran's VA doctor has to contact either Community Care Network or a specific doctor at a VA Hospital to get approval for Community Care. IOW, there are channels a Veteran has to go thru to get Community Care and that takes time.

Back in 2014, when I had to have rotator cuff surgery, I had an MRI done of the shoulder thru the VA, but didn't want to go to the VA Hospital, some 60 plus miles away, for the outpatient surgery. I called a local orthopedic doctor and got an appointment with him, thru my Medicare A/B. He done the surgery and he was 20 miles away. And, I also had my rehab done locally thru Medicare.

VA Medical Community Care Network can be, and sometimes really is, much more complicated than using Medicare.
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I use the VA some too, @Cody Fousnaugh. I have never had surgery in a VA hospital, as the closest one is in Seattle 2600 miles away. We can get care at the base hospital in Anchorage, but my wife cannot visit me if I do, nor could my children and their families. The VA has been good for many things under Community Care, but their billing system, like all Federal Healthcare billing, really sucks. Having VA benefits and Medicare doesn't really help, but having Medicaid does. At least in Alaska, you cannot bill both Medicare and the VA system. You can, however, bill the VA and have private insurance pick up the extras such as copay and coinsurance.

Don, are you a retired military person? I'm not, so I can't go to any base hospital for the Navy. Retired military have an ID to get on a base with, right?

 

[Axel Slingerland]

The VA Clinics I've been to don't do much "medically", so they will send a Vet to a VA Hospital.

That describes the VA Clinic in Eureka almost perfectly. They bought a bus that could hold 40 people, then after people complained at having to wait until there were enough people going to the VA Hospital in San Francisco to make it cost effective, they bought a 15 passenger van that ran twice a week. That only took two years, which was nowhere near as long as it took to get the Clinic built. Thank you, Nimby crowd.

A friend of mine went there. He said he was glad they finally opened. And he wished when he was fighting in three different tours (two in Vietnam, one in the Gulf War) that if they could choose who they were fighting for, he would have told the Nimbys to kiss off. Those were not his exact words, but what he said can't be said in polite company. Let's just say it's physically impossible and leave it at that.

 

[Don Alaska]

One big, sometimes huge, difference I see in Medicare and VA Community Care Network, is: With Medicare, a Veteran has to have a Medicare PCP give a referral to have any type of physical exam, like Ultrasound, done. VA Community Care, the Veteran's VA doctor has to contact either Community Care Network or a specific doctor at a VA Hospital to get approval for Community Care. IOW, there are channels a Veteran has to go thru to get Community Care and that takes time.

Back in 2014, when I had to have rotator cuff surgery, I had an MRI done of the shoulder thru the VA, but didn't want to go to the VA Hospital, some 60 plus miles away, for the outpatient surgery. I called a local orthopedic doctor and got an appointment with him, thru my Medicare A/B. He done the surgery and he was 20 miles away. And, I also had my rehab done locally thru Medicare.

VA Medical Community Care Network can be, and sometimes really is, much more complicated than using Medicare.
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Don, are you a retired military person? I'm not, so I can't go to any base hospital for the Navy. Retired military have an ID to get on a base with, right?

No, I am not retired military, but because the nearest hospital is so far away, they allow non-retired to use the base hospital, but dependents are lot allowed to visit. The VA doesn't want to pay to send a patient to Seattle by medivac air, a VERY expense process. There is even a corridor access from the VA clinic in Anchorage to the base hospital completely enclosed. I think it is unique to Alaska, since we have the highest per-capital veterans population of any state, but the population is so low that a VA hospital cannot be supported. The Community Care system made a big difference here.