Va Enrollment And Champva

[john999]

Is there any advantage to have a spouse who has ChampVA to enroll in the VA health care system. My VAMC will accept and treat those with ChampVA but I wonder if it is worth the trouble to get enrolled.

[Pete53]

No copays everyting is 100% covered. Course I can't see any real advantage for someone with Health Insurance to be enrolled in VA specially a high volume one like you are in. I am sure that she would be subject to the same waits that you are and by the way they had signs posted at my VA that said they would not fill Tri Care Prescriptions anymore. I think that the VA is really hurting for money.

My wife told me she would rather be taken out in the street and run over by a truck than go to a VA and she has ChampVA also.

[john999]

Pete

My wife is already scared of doctors. I thought maybe if she ever needed pills the VA would be a good option. However, if she went to the VA and had one bad experience she would never, ever go back. The situation at the Tampa VAMC is beyond horrible now that the Snow Birds have arrived from up North. I went there at 7am in the morning and I still could not find a place to park.

[jessejames]

My VAMC took 7 months after paying for an MRI at an outside Clinic to schedule an appointment with a Neurosurgeon. I had 3 minutes with the Neurosurgeon and he said he would need to schedule more tests, that was the first of Dec, haven't heard from them. My Primary Care Doc is cancelling and rescheduling appointments now, which has caused me to run out of prescriptions....but they did refill pretty quick when I called them, but I stayed on the phone for 35 minutes before anyone could take my prescriptions down. The VAMC's are having problems, I don't know what's happening....maybe we all need to contact Secretary of Veterans Affairs or somebody. I'm seeing more young people at the VAMC for treatment than ever before. On the Woman's care at the VA and ChampVa, ours has a separate Woman's Clinic and two buddies wives are enrolled and say they get great care...so, I guess it just depends on which VAMC????

[john999]

Jesse

I agree that it just depends on the VAMC as to the care you get. I got a call from the pain clinic in Tampa today. They finally noticed all the side effects I had been pointing out to them from the morphine they were giving me. This is the first time they ever contacted me after one year. They agree that the side effects are making me depressed and housebound.

[Pete53]

I think that the VA is in real trouble and is severely restricted as to what it can do.

[Robert Thomas]

Has anyone had a problem with the Champva folks deducting a fee for pharmacy reimbursements?