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Is VA medical care better or worse than private health care? Actual review/comparison
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broncovet,
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Caluza Triangle defines what is necessary for service connection
Tbird posted a record in VA Claims and Benefits Information,
Caluza Triangle – Caluza vs Brown defined what is necessary for service connection. See COVA– CALUZA V. BROWN–TOTAL RECALL
This has to be MEDICALLY Documented in your records:
Current Diagnosis. (No diagnosis, no Service Connection.)
In-Service Event or Aggravation.
Nexus (link- cause and effect- connection) or Doctor’s Statement close to: “The Veteran’s (current diagnosis) is at least as likely due to x Event in military service”-
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Tbird, -
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Post in ICD Codes and SCT CODES?WHAT THEY MEAN?
Timothy cawthorn posted an answer to a question,
Do the sct codes help or hurt my disability ratingPicked By
yellowrose, -
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Post in Chevron Deference overruled by Supreme Court
broncovet posted a post in a topic,
VA has gotten away with (mis) interpreting their ambigious, , vague regulations, then enforcing them willy nilly never in Veterans favor.
They justify all this to congress by calling themselves a "pro claimant Veteran friendly organization" who grants the benefit of the doubt to Veterans.
This is not true,
Proof:
About 80-90 percent of Veterans are initially denied by VA, pushing us into a massive backlog of appeals, or worse, sending impoverished Veterans "to the homeless streets" because when they cant work, they can not keep their home. I was one of those Veterans who they denied for a bogus reason: "Its been too long since military service". This is bogus because its not one of the criteria for service connection, but simply made up by VA. And, I was a homeless Vet, albeit a short time, mostly due to the kindness of strangers and friends.
Hadit would not be necessary if, indeed, VA gave Veterans the benefit of the doubt, and processed our claims efficiently and paid us promptly. The VA is broken.
A huge percentage (nearly 100 percent) of Veterans who do get 100 percent, do so only after lengthy appeals. I have answered questions for thousands of Veterans, and can only name ONE person who got their benefits correct on the first Regional Office decision. All of the rest of us pretty much had lengthy frustrating appeals, mostly having to appeal multiple multiple times like I did.
I wish I know how VA gets away with lying to congress about how "VA is a claimant friendly system, where the Veteran is given the benefit of the doubt". Then how come so many Veterans are homeless, and how come 22 Veterans take their life each day? Va likes to blame the Veterans, not their system.Picked By
Lemuel, -
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Post in Re-embursement for non VA Medical care.
broncovet posted an answer to a question,
Welcome to hadit!
There are certain rules about community care reimbursement, and I have no idea if you met them or not. Try reading this:
https://www.va.gov/resources/getting-emergency-care-at-non-va-facilities/
However, (and I have no idea of knowing whether or not you would likely succeed) Im unsure of why you seem to be so adamant against getting an increase in disability compensation.
When I buy stuff, say at Kroger, or pay bills, I have never had anyone say, "Wait! Is this money from disability compensation, or did you earn it working at a regular job?" Not once. Thus, if you did get an increase, likely you would have no trouble paying this with the increase compensation.
However, there are many false rumors out there that suggest if you apply for an increase, the VA will reduce your benefits instead.
That rumor is false but I do hear people tell Veterans that a lot. There are strict rules VA has to reduce you and, NOT ONE of those rules have anything to do with applying for an increase.
Yes, the VA can reduce your benefits, but generally only when your condition has "actually improved" under ordinary conditions of life.
Unless you contacted the VA within 72 hours of your medical treatment, you may not be eligible for reimbursement, or at least that is how I read the link, I posted above. Here are SOME of the rules the VA must comply with in order to reduce your compensation benefits:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/38/3.344
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Lemuel, -
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Post in What is the DIC timeline?
broncovet posted an answer to a question,
Good question.
Maybe I can clear it up.
The spouse is eligible for DIC if you die of a SC condition OR any condition if you are P and T for 10 years or more. (my paraphrase).
More here:
Source:
https://www.va.gov/disability/dependency-indemnity-compensation/
NOTE: TO PROVE CAUSE OF DEATH WILL LIKELY REQUIRE AN AUTOPSY. This means if you die of a SC condtion, your spouse would need to do an autopsy to prove cause of death to be from a SC condtiond. If you were P and T for 10 full years, then the cause of death may not matter so much.Picked By
Lemuel, -
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Question
broncovet
I just had Robotic hernia surgery (community care, that is private care paid for by VA, as my VA does not offer Robotic surgery).
Here is how this went:
The robotic surgery was necessary because my first TWO hernia surgeries at VA failed. My wife, a retired RN, indicated that its not unusual for hernia surgeries to fail. Sometimes the repaired hernia can be re injured from lifting too much weight, for example, but that is not the only reason hernia surgeries have to be redone. Its my opinion that the VA doc actually did a good job, considering they had to rush me through it. But Veterans deserve the best, not substandard overburdened health care. I got a great result form the private care hernia surgery.
VA always says "they need more money (from congress) to fix the problem." However, its been shown time after time, that more money does not fix the problem. After getting more money, VA mis management manages to squander the extra funds, with little/no, actual health care improvement. Sometimes its actaully worse, when VA gets more money because they come up with a plan to spend the money, much of which often winds up in pockets of politically well connected contractors and overbloated VA (mis management) employees. Its the same way with VA benefits, VA launches "program after program" to reduce wait times, and the wait times are worse than they were in 2002 when I first applied. They always have a fancy name for the new program, such as Pact ACT or, what was the last one that failed?
Interestingly, I got to compare "VA health care (surgery)" and private surgery, because I had both. Its my opinion, while VA did a good job, it was not near as good as private care.
I felt "herded into surgery like cattle" at the VA health care. Similar to non surgery, Veterans get a very limited time with the doc, its "hurry hurry, hurry, done, next" pretty much like when we were in the military. Not so with private care. They took the time to thoroughly answer questions "because they could" and were not required to rush me through it".
This is my educated guess as to WHY. The VA is, frankly corrupt. Its a huge, huge organization, mostly managed by the VASEC which is a manager who rarely has serious experience managing this large of a hospital/benefits, but rather is a politically well connected appointment not based on management or medical skill Set, like in private practice. There are just too many of these job appointments in VA management that are basically jobs as "favors" for getting someone elected as opposed to hiring someone with a skill set of serious medical management, in many levels of VA managment.
Case in point: I have a friend who is a psychiatrist. He applied at my local VA AND my local VA was hiring doctors. They needed him. IT took VA 3 years to decide whether or not to hire him, so he gave up. So, he is in private practice, basically because of VA mismanagement and red tape. He is working in private practice. Many/most people dont want to wait 3 years to get a job which pays "less" than private practice!
VA has some very good employees often who do their very best in a very badly managed system. But, like many mismanaged companies, they dont turn out a good product. In the private world, mismanaged companies do what mismanaged companies do: They fail. However, with VA mis management is rewarded with more money from congress.
Edited by broncovetLink to comment
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broncovet
I just had Robotic hernia surgery (community care, that is private care paid for by VA, as my VA does not offer Robotic surgery). Here is how this went: The robotic surgery was neces
relatively happy camper
I prefer community care. I won't comment on the benefits section of the VA other than to say it's even worse!!!
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