VA and Medicare (what Veterans need to know)

[mitchellbelinda]

Thank you so much for this video!! You totally answered my questions and concerns. As a Veteran, I’m covered for V A medical services, but didn’t think about the “what if’s “, cut-backs, certain medical services or prescriptions” and that is so important because we don’t
know what our future holds.
I have another year, so I’ll narrow the choices and will probably feel safer calling you prior to my selection. Thanks for listening to our concerns! I feel like this video was just for me! 😂😂😂

[henryskinner]

Thank you. In the first 4 minutes you answered all my questions.
Stay Safe and God Bless.

[sallymartin]

The V.A, has a program called Community Care that allows veterans to have V.A. pay for civilian doctors and hospitals.

[smoke]

Two big options for VA
- fully retired VA so 20+ years service everything is covered, also you get TRICARE which will morph into TRICARE For Life (TFL) at age 65, TFL requires you take Medicare A and B or you will be cancelled from TFL.
- or a part timer with a service connected injury, only the injury is covered.

[victoke]

Grandpa has VA healthcare as Priority 5. That means no service connected disability and depending on income prescriptions and doctor services with copay. No dental and no free inpatient care at a VA hospital. He also gets a vision checkup and one free pair of glasses per calendar year. He does have copay for meds but he falls below dollar threshold and does not have copay for doctor services. He has an outpatient clinic only 17 miles from his home and a VA Medical Center about 48 miles from his home. He gets services at both. He just had 2 cataract surgeries at the medical center 4 weeks apart at no charge except for the medications associated with the surgeries. He had copay for the eye drops. He does have quite a few medications he takes for COPD and blood pressure and all come with copay, but much less expensive than any Medicare Plan D would be. And importantly in his case, he can get a prescription from an outside doctor or and CAT scan order from an outside doctor and have them both fulfilled at the VA, after an appointment with his VA primary care doctor. He must bring the outside doctor summary notes of that visit to the VA primary doctor in order for that VA primary doctor to order the meds or the diagnostic test. Grandpa also had bladder surgery outside the VA in 2021 but the VA provided BCG immunotherapy inside the VA. Anyway Grandpa has always had a Medicare Advantage plan as a backup without PART D. The only recommendation for any Veteran in Priority 5 is keep your appointments they give you and also VA rules and regs and services can change from year to year. Abt agency videos are the best source for Medicare info on Youtube. Thank yoyu

[newbirth]

My husband is a veteran. He opted out of part B and only has A because he gets all his treatments at the VA. He's had two surgeries and is currently undergoing chemo, all free. He's disabled so he got Medicare at just 62.

[rcjic]

Exceptional video. Options and requirements were clearly and concisely articulated. I am a retired veteran and receive SSA/Medicare parts A & B plus I have Tricare for life. Could you at some point discuss Tricare for Life benefits and how they work for veterans and dependents. Keep up the great informational videos. I very much appreciate them and is helping to make some future decisions on my medical coverage. Peace.

[tomlessl]

Great summary and explanation of VA benefits. I live in Michigan and went to Vietnam full-time Navy. Went back in military reserves then retired after being called for the Persian Gulf and hitting the tail end of Kosovo. Needless to say the worst was with the ex wife. At the time I was working and had insurance through civilian employment. Age 60 I was was placed on Tri Care for Life and was told by VA that I had to obtain part A & B Medicare to qualify to use VA. In order to keep my medication I HAD to get my meds through the mail and my civilian Dr. at the time had to coordinate meds with the VA which created conflict of obtaining my drugs though VA mail. I pay for Dental coverage through TriCare. Now looking for a change to an advantage plan that pays for part or partial on B part, lower deductible than 4000, free gym membership, and has a better Dental coverage. Looking forward to work with you at opening enrollment

[bickie]

Hey, thanks a lot for this. You answered so many questions for me. I’m a 100% disabled vet. You’re the best. This was so very very much helpful.

[dwightjennings]

Excellent video, clear and short without unnecessary filler. Great job.

[victoke]

We have commented below about our grandpa who has VA Priority 5 level care. You can read that. For his friends who only have Medicare and are not veterans they are very excited about the reported cap on Medicare out of pocket drug expenses that are reported to be in the new Inflation Reduction Act being signed by Potus today. According to a cousin who does elder care law she said that in her reading of the bill, Medicare will now be able to negotiate prices for drugs, which the VA has already had that feature. But more importantly for Medicare recipients who need a Part D drug plan, the new law supposedly puts a cap on out of pocket drug expenses at $2000.00 per calendar year. However she further opined that, the cap on drug expenses at $2000.00 does not kick in until "2025". If true it does nothing to give relief on high med cost now or next year. The cap inside the VA for our grandpa meds is $700.00 right now. Again, everyone check all this against your own personal needs and your plans for 2023 and forward. And of course there is always Abt just a phone call away.

[malindamilton-cantey]

Been watching your videos when they pop up and I just knew you would have the info I needed❤.

[zabssoutherngirl]

Omg, I'm a newly hired medicare agent and we just went over this in training today. Thank you for the thorough details and clarity.

[phucao]

Most veterans (retired) also have Tricare coverage beside the qualified VA benefits. In this case, the Veteran will lose his Tricare coverage if he/she doesn’t enroll in part B. Not everything can be covered be the VA; thus, having Tricare along with part B definitely release lots of pressure. Hope you have / or will have an educational video for how Tricare benefits and Medicare work (together). Thanks.

[dorismason]

I am trying to sort through things for my veteran hubby. Thanks for confirming what I've been chasing down for months. Looks like I should have just come here. 😄

[susanklotz]

Your videos are so very helpful and you are so thorough in your explanations. Thank you!

[kwjh]

as a diabetic I receive medication from the VA however I am not on insulin therefore testing supplies are obtained using my Medicare coverage currently that would be under Plan B not d this can change under Medicare at any time as you may not be aware that Medicare plans change yearly pay attention to those changes when open enrollment occurs

[kenmaddog]

Stephanie, I am a USMC veteran and I came across your video. I'm 40 years old and have no idea what Medicare and all the parts are. I have 100% disabilty service connected. For someone like me who don't know a lot of healthcare/health insurance, you are basically speaking a foreign language when you are talking about Medicare Part A, B and D. What I wanna know is as a veteran with 100% service connected disability, do I need Medicare and why?

[JohnDoe-lcyj]

As a veteran with a disability who also has VA health benefits, the only reason I will have Medicare Part B is for the ambulance coverage. It's literally possible to be financially devastated for one air ambulance ride if you do not have ambulance coverage. Even with Part B you have to meet certain guidelines but you should know what those are before you call an ambulance anyways. People have gotten six figure bills for air ambulance transportation when they were not conscious to ask for. If you are in an accident and are unconscious and a police officer has you air medevacked to a hospital, that will be 80% covered under Medicare Part B.

[mikeseyssens]

Vietnam Army Vet here, I retired @ 65 and signed up for Medicare parts A & B..I then went to the VA and I have been getting my medical needs taken care of by the VA since then. I have a VA medical disability rating from the VA because of exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. In January of this year I had to go to the Emergency room at. my local hospital, I told the hospital staff about my VA coverage. I called the VA's community care # the next day so the VA ended up covering all the expense of that. Interesting thing is this, because I have Medicare the hospital and the doctors all billed Medicare completely ignoring the fact that I also have VA coverage. Medicare rejected all the bills that they received because I have VA coverage (They Know about it). 
Bottom line question is this, why should I continue paying for Medicare when I will never be able to use Medicare?
Medicare told me that all bills submitted to them will be rejected because I have VA coverage even though I have paid and continue to pay into the Medicare program. ThankYou for answering my question.