LSGi

fully empathize about the burned in the past. they tell me they don't bill for SC issues, nevertheless, trust but verify as they say.

i'm curious,did your medicare of secondary insurer ever deny payment, i.e., they figured VA should have paid for some things that VA billed them for?

i'm all for offsetting the high cost Americans/Veterans pay for healthcare in this country so every citizen gets a fair shake for quality healthcare...just some of this billing is just hard to wrap my head around. i'll check with that office, good idea, thanks.

the VA person that called wanting the info said the same, i.e., they only bill for non-SC disabilities. like you, i asked twice and asked another person at VA and they came back with the same statement. Yet, we all know the VA, good & bad, and in your case, that's what i'm trying to preempt...the huge bills that we shouldn't be getting and along with that the non-stop calls from medical bill collection outfits. though the paperwork for my recent Choice appt states all of it was approved and no copay or such was mentioned and the center that did the procedures didn't ask for any dough upfront i'm always leery that in the mailbox will be those unforeseen bills. and as you say, they(VA) often takes forever. plenty of these stories abound out there from many veterans so leery is a bit warranted for all of us. i'll keep my fingers crossed. appreciate your reply and hope they sort it out for you soon with positive outcome.

makes sense and i agree to some degree. i guess what gets me a bit, is the god awful amount of money & time va spends to NOT pay compensation when verifiable evidence is presented. then after a lifetime fighting for that, you get it, then you can afford a monthly premium, and they want to jump on that and use it to save them money. i'm replying to everyone but for some reason i don't see my replies...

so we "have to" report this? i didn't know. if not for medicare supplement i'd still be told by va they don't see my problems but "something" is there. civilian docs diagnosed it in no time. glad i got the supplement as va really doesn't want to treat/pay for incurable service connected things as they tend to cost more as we get older. most times i feel like the can that gets kicked down the road after va visits. residuals from dealing with them over the years i guess. thanks for reply and letting me know.

this is why i posted my question as i have similar thoughts. i don't see how my medicare supplement would be willing to pay for my VA SC issues when i see VA. i see why when i go to a civilian doctor or civilian treatment but not when i go to VA. recently had to use Choice. and now they want this info. just seems like a round-robin pay shuffle game. since its a medicare supplement i guess somewhere there is a rule/law the company will pay but i don't see how they could keep their books straight or make a profit. i pay the premiums, seems VA has a way to piggyback on that.

appreciate your reply & insights. i guess the feds somewhere in this equation pays the priv insurer.

i have same experience. odd but it is the va/gov

me neither. but they sure want veteran's priv insurance card number too these days. am i the only one that thinks that odd if one is 100+ SC?d. i posted this question in new thread.

thanks. i put my phone on that donotcall list. helps some. the VA now sends out narcan to those on pain meds. i felt dirty when i got that in the mail. don't know why, but i did.

they asked for last 4. the call was logged into my file as my primary and nurse at my va clinic knew of it and the pharmacist's name. pretty sure the call was legit this time. thanks for the info. the scam calls we all get is off the charts these days.

sorry for being so late. it was a new standard for VA pharm's to call pt's who are/have been on long term pain meds. want to know how its working, what other things i do to help with pain, (i.e., exercise, meditation, what foods i eat, any adverse reactions to meds, those kind of things.). same type of questions my primary has asked over the years. primary has a medical degree and years of experience seeing me and talking with me, versus, i've never met anyone from a VA pharm in my life that i know of. we all know now, the CDC & how political it is, lumped all the opioid deaths in with legit chronic diseased/injury longterm use patients who have had little to no neg issues with their pain meds over the years. so the media and politicians knee-jerk out opines and bad policies. politicians, media, big pharm don't want to take on nation actors(you know who they are) who are and have been flooding this country with fentanyl/meth, and the like, so they side step that, and the patients who hadn't had any issues get slammed dunked by these policies. and of course, more population control as all of us legit patients got tossed into a national database and telling pharmacists they know better than a patient's doctor.

sorry for delay in reply. yes, it was the VA pharm who called in a phone interview to go over things. sort of odd a pharmacy person calls to discuss my med treatment and not my primary care doctor. interview went ok. just strange but i know why they do it now since i posted this thread/question. non-VA doctor said the same and mentioned it is happening to all his patients now too. mentioned a pharm's have over-ridden him and yet, the pharm's know nothing about the patient or history. thanks

so we can request a non-VA MH doctor to do the C&P MH exam?