Senate Goes After....as The Bird Flys Rule For Comp And Choice Program

[Stretch]

http://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings/legislative-presentation-of-veterans-of-foreign-wars03042015

First time we are all on the same page..... Good hearing.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Stretch

[iceturkee]

http://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings/legislative-presentation-of-veterans-of-foreign-wars03042015

First time we are all on the same page..... Good hearing.

that's a month old. basically the VFW is trying to get congress to permantely end squestration for veterans. they held a joint meeting with the house and senate committees on veterans affairs.

[Stretch]

AS the bird flys rule has been brought up here on hadit recently. Doesn't matter how old the meeting is. i hope this can also apply to travel expenses.

[broncovet]

Its the VA math! How many people can hop on a plane to their VAMC? VERY, VERY few, if any. I think they should give the Veterans a choice if they live 40 feet from the VA! Why is it that civilians deserve better care than we do? All we are asking for it the same health care civilians get...if VA health care really were the best available, as politicians claim, they would be paying Veterans NOT to go to the VA.

[Chuck75]

Well. If "As the crow flies" sticks, I'd suggest that the VA install Helipads at facilities, and figure travel pay based on air transportation costs.

Really, I think that it's a ruse to divert attention away from how the VA really is trying to do in the Choice Act any way it can.

The crow flies bit is just one, and to my way of thinking not even the most serious of the problems. If the goal is to enable veterans to obtain

proper and prompt medical care, the VA has been galloping headlong in the wrong direction.

I was in a CBOC Monday, for a previously scheduled picture of a skin lesion. Evaluating such things is beyond the PCP's training, so they send the picture to the area VAMC..

Over the preceding weekend, I had an infection developing at/under the root of the nail on one of my big toes late Friday, and I'm diabetic.

I had to limp into the CBOC Monday, in quite a bit of pain, that had developed and become stronger over the weekend.

The PCP and the PCP's nurse looked at it, and suggested that I soak the foot in Epsom Salts. I asked for a referral to an outside podiatrist, since the nearest VA one is more than 50 miles away, and had

a long wait for an appointment.

The PCP told me that the VAMC had recently directed that the PCP's stop generating outside consults, and to have the veteran

work through the choice program. (What about fee paid?) They did not know if the choice program or fee paid had any local area podiatrists on "the list".

When I got back to the house, I called a local podiatrist's office, to find out that he had left for the day, but he'd be in his alternate office (18 miles away, the next morning.)

An appointment was made for the first thing the next morning (yesterday). A small sliver of the toenail was removed, puss drained, the area cleaned out, and the usual

procedure to help prevent recurrence accomplished. It's of course a bit sore today, but the result is much less painful, and should heal fairly quickly. Again, a case of timing.

If I had tried to contact the choice program, they, as they had before, would have likely denied. By then it would have been too late in the day to reach the podiatrist's office.

For the second time this year, the CBOC people gave me the impression that the VA has absolutely no interest in making the choice program function.

(The PCP did offer to issue a prescription for a pain killer, which I declined, since I had to drive a few miles on the interstate that day and the next.

The state I live in considers such things as "driving under the influence".)

The podiatrist told me that he had tried to work in the past with VA fee paid. His complaint was that they sent him a hundred "consults" in one batch, would not authorize

services beyond bare basics, and were slow to pay.

At least we have Medicare as a backup, so I ended up paying $30!

Edited April 2, 2015 by Chuck75

[Pete53]

Chuck is right the VA looks and has loopholes. So many loopholes it looks more like a sieve than a bowl

[Notorious Kelly]

Our CBOC doesn't do anything that couldn't be accomplished in a Kinko's rented conference room; for Xrays or Anything you still have to go to The Big VA.