Eyeglasses

[95bmp]

who can get eyeglasses from the va?

[georgiapapa]

There are several ways to qualify for free eyeglasses through the VA. The information is found on the VA's website.

One way to qualify is to have any service connected condition. You would qualify for a free eye examination and free eyeglasses since you have a service connected condition.

[63SIERRA]

The VA has a pretty good eye glass system, the optomitrist are awesome at my VAMC . They have a nice selection of frames. and whoever they use to make the lens for the glasses does good too. If your having problems, vision changes, ect , you can call the eye clinic at your VAMC and make an appt.

[TiredCoastie]

And seeing that you've got a 50% combined rating, there is completely no cost for you. Otherwise, each visit for a specialist is something like a $50 co-pay if you don't qualify as low income or have a service connected eye issue.

You probably need a referral from a VA PCP, though, so you'd have to enroll in the VA Medical System as a patient, be assigned a PCP, and get your PCP to give you a referral. Some Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) have an eye clinic, so you may be able to be seen closer to home without the potential hastle of the big VAMC.

Eye glasses and hearing aids are the two main things I use the VAMC for besides being a way to keep the VA informed as the status of my service connected conditions. Otherwise, I use our outside insurance for everything else.

[Philip Rogers]

Almost any veteran can get glasses and hearing aids. They will replace glasses every yr or two, depending on vision changes or such things like I lost them, the dog ate them, they slipped off my head and fell in the river below, etc.. They do have a good selection and you can get tinted or bifocals, with line or without.

Once the warranty, on the hearing aids, expire, they will replace them, if asked. One of the vets, in my group, had his dog eat them and they replaced them w/no problem.

pr

[TiredCoastie]

Almost any veteran can get glasses and hearing aids. They will replace glasses every yr or two, depending on vision changes or such things like I lost them, the dog ate them, they slipped off my head and fell in the river below, etc.. They do have a good selection and you can get tinted or bifocals, with line or without.

Once the warranty, on the hearing aids, expire, they will replace them, if asked. One of the vets, in my group, had his dog eat them and they replaced them w/no problem.

pr

What does it cost for a non-SC vet or less than 50% for glasses and hearing aids? Just curious.

The reason I'm asking is that I was once warned to stop pursuing a losing argument over SC hearing loss because the VA might then bill me for my hearing aids. I gave up my fight for SC of hearing loss because the bad entrance exam hearing test made it look like my hearing loss was relatively stable across 20+ years of service after a second look by our family ENT who's a top guy in the region. He advised me to drop it before the VA started charging me for the hearing aids they issued me. I quit not due to fear of the VA billing me but because, without his backing and nexus, I was sunk. (Just for the record, he'd actually changed his opinion but did not mark the original DBQ as having reviewed my SMRs which he did...for lack of a check mark, I probably lost the war on this one.) Now he doesn't understand VA medical or that I'm rated above 50%, medical is without cost to me. But what if I was less than 50%? Would I have had to pay something for them?

Is it the same deal with glasses? I agree that they take very good care of me (but wouldn't issue me a pair of progressive lenses w/out the line). However, back before I was SC and waiting on that initial claim, I wound up paying the VA $50 a visit when I had an acute eye problem. Of course, I eventually got that money back. But I did not attempt to obtain new glasses before I was SC.

Edited January 10, 2015 by TiredCoastie

[jbasser]

10 percent you get eyeglasses and hearing aids from VA.