Perry, Texas hospitals propose plan for VA backlog

[DhhD]

1. As it is now, Veterans, age 65 or disabled, can choose to be with the VA Healthcare or Medicare.

And can switch back and forth every month. The hitch was that any care given during the months on Medicare, the Veteran had to pay the 20% that Medicare does not pay. In 2013, the ACA allowed a private provider to determine if the Veteran was eligible for Medicaid to pay that 20%. There are some other set deductibles in the costs, under some circumstances, that are paid by Medicare and/or the VA.

The newly passed VA Bill may allow the patient to stay in the private provider's care at a cost situation determined by the new law and paid for by the VA, instead of the moving the Veteran to the VA after stabilization or at the beginning of the coming month.

Veteran used to use this switching to get a second opinion. But it could be costly if the Veteran waited too long passed a second opinion diagnosis and/or needed to be hospitalized. With the new law, Veterans seem be be out of the traps set by the VA and the Private Provider healthcare systems in effect for now.

I do not have a link to a copy of the new law.