Choice Card = No Eyeglasses?

[Buck52]

I am not sure about the VA choice card but I think the veteran as to get a confirmation twice from the VA OR FROM The correct Authorities, not sure why the Private Dr's are having problems getting a confirmed deal with the VA.

However hold on to your hat

tune in some times this week Friday or SAT to the hadit podcast radio show Jbasser the host and tech and Host Jerrel Cook will have some insights & more information as how to work the choice card and get it to where your private Dr is not afraid to start using it.

I don't have a clue as to what it is he can tell us but be sure to tune in and listen into the Show this week and find out!

..................Buck

[jbasser]

Not sure exactly where to post this... Because we live 200 miles from the nearest VA hospital, last year my husband received his annual eye exam and a pair of eyeglasses through a fee based outside physician in our town. It worked very well. This year he was told he would have to go through the Choice Card program. After about 10 phone calls over the course of 3 months, he finally received an approval for an eye exam including "refractory" which determines the prescription. After the exam and going into the optician part of the office, he was told that the approval was just for the exam, not for glasses, even though the approval was to check what eyeglasses he needed, but not to give you the eyeglasses!. The office said they have had nothing but problems with the Choice Card "approvals" and were told that the Choice Program is not for eyeglasses. And indeed, I discovered " Eyeglasses are not covered under the Veterans Choice Program-`must use regular VA services". Has anyone else experienced this and what did you do about it? Once again, it seems like the VA has taken a program that actually worked and eviscerated it.

Call your VA and speak to the NonVa care department. Tell them they didn't upload the correct item on the card as the exam was only covered and not the eyeglasses. According to my source they need to upload the correct items to the card.

[31Bravo]

The vA is sabotaging the Choice Card program; they don't want it to work.

vA doctors are refusing to submit the paper work needed to use the Choice Card.

I spent over a month on the phone trying to get someone to write the order or prescription to go to outside vA providers.

I finally got letters saying vA would pay for the consult, and I could go to:

-Eye doctor for a consult, but I would have to pay for glasses if needed and vA would not fill the prescription.

-Dentist for a consult, but I would have to pay for anything needed beyond the consult.

-Arthritis Doctor consult, but I have to pay for medications and the vA will not fill the prescriptions.

-Gastroenterologist consult, but I have to pay for everything needed after the consult and vA will not fill prescriptions for meds.

I hope this nonsense changes someday and the Choice Card becomes useful as intended.

For now the Choice Card is a cruel joke.

Edited July 23, 2015 by 31Bravo

[marina53]

Thank you everyone for your replies. My husband called the VA optical shop at the VA hospital (the one 200 miles away) The person who answered the phone first said that he had no idea how to fix this but he would connect him to someone who could help. So, a lady at "integrated care" told him that this has been a huge problem with eye exams and the Choice Card and no one who received an eye exam could get eyeglass because they "forgot" to add eyeglasses to the authorizations. She said the next batch of approvals that go out should have the eyeglass approval. (Why the VA just can't send an email to the optical shops authorizing eyeglasses for everyone that has already been authorized, I don't know. Too easy, I guess, or someone would have to make a decision that didn't involve congressional approval) She told him to fax his eyeglass prescription to the VA clinic and they would fill it using his frame choice from last year. If he wanted them fitted or new frames,he would still have to make the 400 mile round trip. Judging by the replies here, it really does seem that the Choice Card was made to fail so that the VA could say "see, no ones using it anyway".

[Chuck75]

They didn't "forget". The wording is that the VA must approve treatment (eyeglasses) before it can be accomplished.

Next, since it's eyeglasses, and the VA makes eyeglasses, the do in or outside decision becomes the next problem.

You didn't think the VA was going to make things simple, when they have a chance to make them complicated, did you?

Think of how many VA administrative positions get "make work" from the process!

Grr!

[Ian]

If your husband is Retired Military and would be eligible for care on post, he can order a standard pair from the Navy for free and they would mail them. 

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nostra/order/Pages/Retiree.asp