Family Care Giver Program

[Ocean]

Hello,

My spouse applied for the Care Giver Program two weeks ago. She got a letter today saying it was denied as I do not actively use VA Healthcare. Is there any work around to this? I dont mind doing the once per year check in, but I refuse to use the VA for medical treatment as I am here in Arizona. Phoenix is worse than most prisoner health care programs. 

[GBArmy]

Ocean If I were you I'd submit the 10-10EZ form and get into the system anyway. There are things that are valuable to you that come with being in the system. You basically sign up, get an appointment with a gp that will be your doc, and go. If you need new prescriptions for a new medical problem, since you are rated 100%, you could get them free, for example. The VA does a very good job on lab work; they run a lot of tests, at least initially, to est. a baseline.Something shows up, you can chose to use the VA or go private. You don't have to do much more than do an annual physical. You just explain to the gp that the VA will be your back-up health care. You don't have to use them for any kind of surgery or procedure unless you want to. And since you are over 50%, there are no co-pays which can really add up. You should reconsider, IMHO.

[Tbird]

the savings on prescriptions can be substantial. I don't know that there is a work around for this requirement.