It is often forgotten — despite eye care being, amazingly, the Veteran Health Administration’s third busiest program — that if you are enrolled in VA healthcare, you are eligible for diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic eye care services, regardless of your priority group. You may also be eligible to receive eyeglasses and medically necessary contact lenses, if the ophthalmologist/ optometrist determines the need. (more…)
Verbatim from the TRICARE.mil website
If you missed TRICARE Open Season, you still have time to enroll. For this year only, you can enroll in or change your TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select plan through Dec. 31, 2018 for coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2019. You may also change your type of enrollment, like switching from individual to family coverage. (more…)
To add to the sorry saga of inaction by our senators, here is the latest as reported in the Stars and Stripes: ### As of 14 December 2018
Today the the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it had updated portions, of the VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD or Rating Schedule), effective December 9, 2018, which evaluate the hematologic and lymphatic systems.
One diagnostic code was removed, nine were added, and several were restructured. The complete list of updates to the rating schedule are now available online. (more…)
The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center will hold a Town Hall at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12, at the Allentown VA Outpatient Clinic, 3110 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown. Its purpose is to give an opportunity to veterans to meet with top officials and ask questions which concern them and others. Source: Read more…
Did you know the Department of Veterans Affairs and Walgreens are national partners and both are providing no-cost, flu vaccines to enrolled veterans of the VA healthcare system? It is part of the VA’s effort to improve and simplify its community care program — and the technology of the era Read more…
“No conditions were removed from the new rating schedule for skin conditions. However, several diagnostic codes assigned to various skin conditions were restructured or revised as VA aims to have the rating schedule better reflect modern medicine,” according to the VA. The new rating schedule for skin conditions goes into effect August 13. (more…)
[Editor’s Note: One of the more thorough, balanced and probative articles about the failure of the our national and local media regarding their reporting and conclusions on the state of VA healthcare in quite a while. Also provides some insights on the thinking of our Congress and Executive; and the Read more…
H.R. 299, The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017 [2018], introduced by Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) edged one step closer to passage on 25 June with a 382-0 House vote. If enacted, the Act would restore eligibility for VA healthcare and disability compensation for (more…)
We thought it would happen on Memorial Day. Instead, it happened on 6 June 2018 (D-Day). The President finally signed the VA MISSION Act of 2018 upon which we have previously reported .
According to the VFW’s Action Corps Weekly of 8 June, “ ‘The VA MISSION Act will help improve the care our veterans get at the VA while leveraging the capabilities of the private sector when needed. It will help recruit the best talent at the VA, which is what our veterans deserve, and it also extends caregiver benefits to every veteran who needs it,’ … The VA MISSION Act was the result of a bipartisan and bicameral effort led by Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Sen. Johnny Isakson, Ranking Member Sen. Jon Tester and House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Rep. Phil Roe, M.D.” (more…)