Private Heart Doctor Vs Va Heart Doctor

[olddude]

I I am 70% all service related.At the VA Clinic they told me to keep my outside heart doctor and not have a VA heart doctor.That way if something heart related happens,I can be taken care of localy.My heart doctor sends me for a stress test and and other heart related tests each year. For the past 5 years I have been paying for these tests. out of my pocket Medicare paid 80%,I had to pay the other 20% every year out of my own pocket.My heart problems are all service related. Would not it be better for me to ask for a VA heart doctor. IF I had a VA heart doctor,would not the tests be paid for by the VA and save me a lot of money? Or could I be re-inbursed each year for the tests my outside heart doctor has done. I can not see why I should pay for service related tests.

[Capt.]

Hello Phillip and Berta,,, I just don't have alot of money to afford cardio doctors as most of us don't either. The sad thing is most cardio Veterans are ignored until after the Veteran gets the heartattack. I didget an IHD diagnosis from the VA after my event but I am not from Vietnam but Fort Greely like Jerrel . And the battle goes on in the Regional Office where its all about no evidence or not probative as someone posted in another post. Wishing you and family a Happy Thanksgiving. NEVER GIVE UP. God Bless, C.C.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Capt.Contaminate

[john999]

Your PCP can send you for the tests, but if my life depended on it I would pay for the private care. I am 60% for heart and I have never seen a cardiologist. My experience with the VA was that they gave me tests that contradicted each other and they never followed up on it. My other experience is that the VA will wait until you have a heart attack before they even talk to you about your heart. I know we all get screwed to an extent because the VA is so cheap, but you have to protect yourself since they won't. I mean if you are 100% vet the VA is just waiting for you to die so they can take you off the ledger. We are dead men walking to them.

[Pete53]

I have had the heart attack and still ignored

[Capt.]

Hello Pete,

I am sorry to hear that. Did you go to a VA hosptial when you had the heart attack? Maybe that is why the VA got me a cardio doctor. I went to a VA hospital when I had mine. The VA sent me to a fee basis private Cardiologist after they stabilized me. Still the VA should have known it was going to happen because of the diagnosis, but did nothing. I believe they just won't do anything until after the event. It is tragic but I believe the VA knows the numbers game and knows how to play it. If 80 percent die and 20 percent survive which is probably pretty close , then it means lots and lots of money saved from the budget.

Olddude, I hope you can take care of yourself and not let the VA run you down . Above all though NEVER GIVE UP. God Bless, C.C.

[COOL BREEZE]

I believe that the VA has a hard time finding qualified cardio doctors to work at the VA. After all they would probably get better pay and better working hours working elsewhere. Most VETS have cardio problems. There is no way they can provide the care we need. I use private insurance and send any medical notes to the VA to be included in my medical reports. All the medical reports and test that I had were submitted to the VA for my current claims.

If I were to have a heart attack I would go to the nearest private hospital for good care, then get referral from my private doctor to insure I would live longer than by relying on the VA for there hit or miss approach,

[broncovet]

You have been given good advice. I went to the VA for 10 years, they failed to diagnose my problem. Then, I had chest pains and a call to the VA said, "We are full...you have to go elsewhere and we will pay the bill". I did, off to a well known heart hospital. IN 24 hours the private hospital diagnosed my problem (enlarged right side of heart due to sleep apnea). Untreated, the right side of my heart would keep enlarging until I went into atrial fib, congestive heart failure and death. The heart hospital diagnosed me and saved my life.

In the VA's defence, they did pay the heart hospital bill.

In a nutshell a cardiologist earns about 300, to 700k per year plus. Often a cardiologist has been in medical school for a decade and owes a quarter million plus in student loans. It sometimes costs them 30,40, or even 50 k per year to repay the student loans..and the VA wants to pay them 80k...so the VA wants the doc to live on 30k per year. The VA tries to recruit them for about one fourth that amount. Most VA employees who make 150k per year are big shots, and they dont want doctors making more. Its just too much responsibility for a doc to do this for what a plumber can make. The VA has no desire to recruit cardiologists and extend Veterans lives and thus the amount the VA pays in compensation. So the VA quietly lets 1000 Veterans die, per day, terminating their compensation as well as their application for it. (In some cases a widow can substitute but she has to know this...and she has to meet the VA's deadline for doing so. Even when you die, there is a deadline for Vets, with no deadline for the VA)

How do I know this? Wife is a cardiac nurse and works for cardiologists.

Edited November 27, 2011 by broncovet