VA Watchdog.org put out a "Call To Action" on a bill in Congress that would expand dental benefits from only the highest rated VA patients to all disabled vets:
CALL TO ACTION: BILL WOULD GIVE DENTAL BENEFITS TO
ALL DISABLED VETS -- Have your elected Representative
support H.R. 5595 which would give dental coverage to
all vets with at least a 10% service-connected rating.
Time to get busy Brother and Sister veterans.
H.R. 5595 would give full dental benefits to any veteran with a service-connected disability of at least 10%.
It's about time!
Get hold of your Member of the House and make sure they support this bill.
If this doesn't pass...it's our fault for not pushing it.
I'm personally a bit torn on this issue since the bill doesn't seem to address funding to expand the dental services or require that such funding/expansion be addressed if passed. I honestly don't mind the idea of expanding dental care coverage to vets but here's my two big worries:
Currently at the local Danville VA hospital the wait times for a dental appointment is often one to two months at current levels.
This bill would multiply the number of eligible vets by a factor of 12... from 5,000 to over 60,000. Even if the actual result was only double the dental patients as opposed to 12 times the number of patients... how the heck is anyone going to get timely care? The bill doesn't appear to fund extra staff/equipment/facilities... nor does it expand the fee basis allowances to outsource the work to local dentists to cut back the backlog.
This seems to be an extremely well intentioned bill with some really big holes. Whether or not the funding/expansion can be done to do this is a whole other problem... or if this is even the appropriate place to start looking at expanding services versus making sure current services can at least run efficiently first.
Nationwide this bill would boost eligibility by a factor of 10, from roughly 250,000 vets to 2.5 million. For a VA consistently getting dogged for it's long wait times, both in claims, and at the hospitals themselves, this seems like really bad timing for an otherwise good idea. I'd rather fix the current problems than add more problems to the heap and hope that somehow those other problems with resolve themselves.
The VA needs better funding and management right now. Then add more services once you can meet the current demand for the current services.
If you disagree... call your representatives and let them know. What do I know anyways?
Here's the related news article:
More dental coverage sought for vets
March 28, 2008Veterans with service-connected disabilities would get expanded dental coverage under bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park.
The "Make Our Veterans Smile Act" (House Resolution 5595) was co-introduced by Kirk and fellow Navy Reserve intelligence officer U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Pa.
Currently, only 100 percent disabled, homeless or prisoner-of-war veterans are eligible for dental benefits. The bill, if signed into law, expands dental coverage to any service-connected disabled veteran, regardless of disability rating starting Jan. 1, 2009.
...
According to the Veterans Administration, 258,000 veterans currently are eligible for dental benefits. More than 2.5 million additional disabled veterans would receive coverage under the Kirk-Carney bill.
In Illinois, coverage would expand from nearly 5,000 veterans to more than 60,000 veterans, according to the Congressional Research Service.
You make the call.
Quick question, since the retired service member I'm closest to (my father) currently doesn't use the VA for medical care (he uses his current employer's plans) and I know next to nothing about the VA:
Does the VA require you to visit their facilities and wait on their providers at those facilities? Or does the VA act like a private insurance company, in which they'll pay X amount for Y service, after a co-pay, to a list of approved providers in your area?
Thanks!
HG
History Guy... for VA healthcare you have to enroll. Depending on whether or not someone is recently discharged, has an approved disability claim, etc the enrollment process can either be automatic, or if he has no service connected disability and makes over a certain minimum income he may be blocked from enrollment due to the high demand/wartime/etc.
Once enrolled the medical care is pretty well covered, but only at their facilities. In some special cases where they cannot do needed work they will arrange service outside of the VA system... requiring paperwork, delays, waittimes, red-tape, etc. The dental works the same way but it is currently reserved for 100% disabled veterans who have gone through the claims process and been rated that disabled either directly or due to employability issues. Others, such as former POWs and a few others can also get dental too. Same deal though: you have to use the VA services at the VA... they'll make special arrangements if they can't do it there. If you do it elsewhere without approval, you're on your own.
Co-pays right now are mainly just for the pharmacy and only if you make over a certain income threshold.
Hope that helps. The VA page describes it in far more detail, but that's the gist of it.
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Glock21 Op/Ed
Thanks, Glock, that's what I was wondering after...has there ever been any talk, amongst Congress/President or VA groups or vets themselves, to move the VA benefits to what I described? Basically, an insurance company with approved providers, instead of being the actual provider?
HG
There's been talk of something similar. The VA is designed to meet the special needs of veterans on top of basic health care and other specializations more typical for other hospitals. It is unlikely they'd ever get rid of the VA hospitals since they are uniquely designed around fulfilling the needs of those dealing with hazards of military life and combat related issues. But many have favored a VA Card that would allow vets to use other hospitals for basic care needs... which for veterans in Champaign would mean going up the street to a local hospital instead of an hour and half round trip drive and could help reduce the backlogs, staff shortages, etc. McCain supports such a plan.
The hiccup in the plan is that the VA has an extremely unique and efficient computer system for tracking patients, treatments, medications, etc while private hospitals use their own systems. It could increase costs in the paperwork/administration/avoiding screwups/etc. The plus side is that it could offset those new costs by increasing the availability of accessible care without significantly increasing the costs of care, nor the costs of expanding facilities, staff, etc to provide such services.
It's an idea I wholeheartedly support, but some have claimed the slippery slope that it is the first step towards total privatization of VA care. I don't see that happening personally, but it's a perspective worth looking at to see if the what-if's they raise seem plausible or well-founded. They are not in my opinion. But people I respect on VA issues, though not necessarily in politics, have taken the other perspective.
I don't see them eliminating the VA hospitals though or going over to health care being covered at private facilities only. Veterans have special needs in certain areas in large numbers where such demand in other hospitals is limited, especially in research, but also in services. But my crystal ball doesn't work so hot, so I could be wrong.
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Glock21 Op/Ed