Posted on Oct 27, 2014
Using the VA as your primary healthcare provider (Affordable Care Act).
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I have a friend that served in our armed forces, and luckily, does not have any disabilities or service-connected injuries.
She is soon leaving the public sector to continue with education and eventually help Veterans who are suffering from mental illness. An admirable cause, and one that is well needed.
She is wondering what our thoughts are regarding the VA as primary healthcare for veterans. Do any of you use the VA? Your personal thoughts? If you can also provide tips/suggestions/etc., I will pass them along.
I also invited her to join RallyPoint, and will eventually share this conversation with her.
Thank you in advance for your time and support.
Tony
She is soon leaving the public sector to continue with education and eventually help Veterans who are suffering from mental illness. An admirable cause, and one that is well needed.
She is wondering what our thoughts are regarding the VA as primary healthcare for veterans. Do any of you use the VA? Your personal thoughts? If you can also provide tips/suggestions/etc., I will pass them along.
I also invited her to join RallyPoint, and will eventually share this conversation with her.
Thank you in advance for your time and support.
Tony
Benefits
Health
Obamacare
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 4
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Using the VA as my primary healthcare provider:
- I am currently serving so I do not have any direct experience with the VA and medical.
- I have used a portion of my GI Bill and my experience with the VA in this respect was good (not great).
- Based upon news reports and what I know based upon research of the VA, I would not use the VA as my primary health care provider if I had a choice for the following reasons:
- News reports. Can't have that much smoke in the news without a fire somewhere.
- Admin/doc ratio. The ratio of admin personnel vs docs in the VA is out of control. Too much money spent on red tape and not enough on health care providers.
- Budget. VA budget has increased significantly but the quality of care reportedly has not improved at all. Argument against.
-/+ Pay Scale. The pay scale used by the VA is out of sync with the private sector (VA pays more). You would think this is an argument to use the VA over the private sector. It may or may not be.
-/+ Large scale vs small scale. At the end of the day, I assume there is a large shot group of quality from VA location to VA location. A lot will depend upon the quality that an individual sees at the local level.
- I am currently serving so I do not have any direct experience with the VA and medical.
- I have used a portion of my GI Bill and my experience with the VA in this respect was good (not great).
- Based upon news reports and what I know based upon research of the VA, I would not use the VA as my primary health care provider if I had a choice for the following reasons:
- News reports. Can't have that much smoke in the news without a fire somewhere.
- Admin/doc ratio. The ratio of admin personnel vs docs in the VA is out of control. Too much money spent on red tape and not enough on health care providers.
- Budget. VA budget has increased significantly but the quality of care reportedly has not improved at all. Argument against.
-/+ Pay Scale. The pay scale used by the VA is out of sync with the private sector (VA pays more). You would think this is an argument to use the VA over the private sector. It may or may not be.
-/+ Large scale vs small scale. At the end of the day, I assume there is a large shot group of quality from VA location to VA location. A lot will depend upon the quality that an individual sees at the local level.
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PO1 Ron Clark
I dont think that I would use the VA as my primary healthcare provider, unless there is no other facilities available. My experience with the VA is limited to the care that they provide Active duty and Reservist. As I live in Mobile, AL there is only a satellite VA operation here in Mobile. There are two VA facilities one in Pensacola, FL and the other in Biloxi, MS each more than a 50 mile trip just one way. I have also experienced personnel who work for the VA that have not spent any time in the military so they are'nt always so sympathetic to the plight of the average veteran, which makes me a bit apprehensive just putting all my eggs in that VA basket.
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One important consideration. If she is not service connected for a disability, then her ability to be enrolled for VA health care is based on MEANS testing (income level). I would recommend she contact the nearest VA Medical Center or Clinic and apply regardless.
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I just recently retired and have been going through the process of the VA. I will be using both Tricare and my PCM on Hood as well as the VA services. Between the two, I can get decent treatment for a variety of things.
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