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Travel Pay

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I got in a bit of a tiff with the travel folks last week when I was at the Gainesville VAMC.

I had just come from an appointment at the VA Dermatology Clinic which is located at a different location than the VAMC. The Derm clinic is in zip code 32605 and the VAMC is in zip code 32608, both in Gainesville Florida.

I asked the travel clerk why I was being paid to the VAMC and not the Derm Clinic which is a bout 7 miles from the VAMC. I was told that they paid zip code to zip code from my home to the VAMC. I asked why I did not get paid to where I went and they said it is all the VAMC. Not a good answer. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that they all were in a meeting. I was then told I could bring it up with the Patients Advocate, which I did.

The PA said she would check with the supervisor later in the day and get back to me. When the PA called me I pointed out the VA FAQ at: http://www.va.gov/healthe...enetravelfaq.asp#mileage

She said that was just a FAQ and not the regulation. I asked for the regulation and she again said she would get back to me.

I looked through the CFR 70 series for an hour or more and found no reference to how the mileage is figured.

Mapquest calculates my home to the dermatology clinic as 81.73 miles or 163.46 miles round trip. Using these figures the travel pay would be $67.84 minus the $6 deductible for a total of $61.84. It calculates my home to the VAMC as 81.1 miles or 162.2 miles round trip. Using these figures the travel pay would be $67.31 minus the $6 deductible or $61.31.

Using either destination the pay would be in the $61 range rather than the $54.59 I was paid.

Does anyone know of a regulation or directive that tells how travel pay should be calculated?

Thanks,

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  • Content Curator/HadIt.com Elder

Travel pay is kind of wierd. I go to the VA medical center and get travel. Sometimes the agent at a particular clinic wants to argue that I don't qualify for travel. When that happens, I just go to the Travel office at the facility and they straighten it out.

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Carlie,

Thanks for your reply.

I have been through USC 111 and 38 CFR 70 and find all kinds of information on eligibility and procedures but nothing about how the mileage is calculated.

The only place I can find a reference on how to calculate the mileage is in the FAQ at: http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/librar...netravelfaq.asp

#13 is the one that deals with calculating mileage.

This is not how any of the VA facilities I have been to figure the mileage.

Dave sends

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  • HadIt.com Elder

That's an excellent example of why I don't go near the travel window. Ending my VAMC visit, smiling at another disengaged bureaucrat with borrowed power, telling me dribble. No thank you...

You can file a NOD for the three dollars. Of course, you should send it certified, returned receipt requested, with tracking. It could get lost...

I once spent hundreds on a bogus VAMC parking ticket. I took it all the way to a Fed. District court. I cleaned their clock.

Edited by Commander Bob
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Good for you commander. I just want the VA travel folks or the Patients Advocate to show me the regulation, letter, directive or whatever they use to figure travel. The money is not the important thing. Them doing what they are required to do is the point.

It seems that each facility does it their own way. I use one VAMC in the summer when I am in Connecticut and one in Florida in the winter when I am at home. Each one does the travel business the way they please. When I went to the VAMC in Brockton Massachusetts they did things their way as well. Same for the Va facility in Daytona Beach Florida when I went there for a C&P.

Seems to me that there should be one way and that there should be some kind of directive that tells them and us the correct procedure.

Dave sends

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