CVN Driver

Yes, he is my dependent and I was receiving the dependent payment for an under 18 child. Per the VA website, i submitted my claim for a helpless child 3 months before his 18th birthday, and after only 1 rejection and re submission of the same documents to the VA, the helpless child was approved 4 months after his 18th birthday. The dependent allowance was stopped precisely on his 18th birthday. I am probably going to have to go the Congressional route. The way I read the law, the VA payment is for the veteran and the SSA should not count it since the payment come to me directly. It really is becoming a time suck that isn't worth the $86 a month that the VA pays for a helpless child. So I will make one last attempt through the Congressional rep and either get it fixed, or just have the VA drop the payment. Thanks to everyone!

I am 100% P&T and I applied for and was granted Helpless Child for my stepson before his 18th birthday with little or no problems from the VA. He is now over 18 and eligible for Social Security benefits, but we are having issues with the SSA and the VA. Social Security is docking my son's SSI payments and counting the helpless child payment as income for him because I am getting the helpless child payment on my VA disability. After lots of calls and back and forth, we have finally got SSA to say that we need a letter from the VA showing the break out of the payments and that the payments from the VA is only for me. However, when I looked on EBenefits I could not find a letter or link that shows the breakdown /stack up of how my payment is determined. I tried showing the SSA the chart from the VA website, but that is not good enough for that side of the government. So my questions are: 1) Has anyone else fought this fight with 2 of the most obtuse government agencies before? 2)Is there anyway to get or generate a letter or some other documentation close to what he SSA is requiring? 3) Is there somewhere on the VA site that shows our payment breakdown, not just the total award, i.e. $xxxxx for 100%, $xxxx for SMC, $xxx for dependents, etc.?

You need to be in contact with the Fee Basis Unit of your VA area. Here is the verbiage that I found when I had to research this: 1) Treatment was rendered for an adjudicated service-connected disability or a condition associated with and held to be aggravating a service-connected disability, or for any condition in the case of a veteran who is found to be in need of vocational rehabilitation and for whom an objective has been selected or who is pursuing a course of vocational rehabilitation; 2) Treatment was rendered as a medical emergency of such nature that delay would have been hazardous to life or health; 3) VA or other Federal facilities were not feasibly available. My ER visits were directly connected to my SC. But I think as long as any connection can be made to your SC and the ER visit, you should be good. I am not sure if it falls under the same office, but when I went through this, I found out that I had to send my bills to the Consolidated Fee Unit in Flowood MS. Here is the link for the Houston VA system site on it: https://www.houston.va.gov/emergency_care.asp Here is the note at the bottom of the page: Veterans who are enrolled at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center or one of its outpatient clinics in Beaumont, Conroe, Galveston, or Lufkin should mail their claim to: VISN 16 CFU, P. O. Box 320164, Flowood, MS. 39232. For questions after you have submitted your claim, call (601) 933-7700. I have had to tell the outpatient free standing ERs to send it to the correct address. They kept trying to send it to the regular Tricare address in Colorado. Most of the billing departments do not know of the VA ER Fee basis mailing address. See also:https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/programs/veterans/emergency_care.asp The Houston VA billing department didn't really help me on this until I got lucky and found the right billing person to explain this. As long it was a true emergency, you are a VA enrolled vet, and you don't have other insurance, they will pay through the Fee Basis. They will pay for SC ER visits if you have private insurance too. Just remember you need to speak about sending the bill to the Fee Basis unit in your area, NOT the Vet Choice, CHAMPUS, Tricare, etc. Be prepared to educate everyone you have dealt with about this. You have up to 2 years to file this claim, but the earlier the better, obviously. You do not have to get pre-authorization if it is an emergency. If you are discharged from the ER, contact the VA and follow up with your regular VA doctor. Bring the paperwork to make sure it makes it to your file. If you are admitted from the ER, you have 72 hours to contact the VA to let them determine if you need to move to a VA facility or stay where you are at. It is complicated, at I had to follow up with the Fee Basis unit to make sure it was being processed. But the second time I was much more prepared and it went smoother because I had the Fee Basis unit address and phone number.