VA: Medical promise broken

When the VA notified me in February to schedule a six-month checkup, I was told the VA could not schedule me before 30 days. They instead offered the Veterans’ Choice program which would, supposedly, provide the same care through civilian medical service. The approval and actual appointment took more than two months after which I received a bill as an uninsured patient for $476 for routine blood tests. Those tests were specifically referenced in my Choice authorization documents. By then the limit on my Veterans’ Choice program had expired.

When I tried to return to the VA, I was told at both the Coeur d’Alene clinic and Spokane VA hospital that due to a lack of staff they were unable to take anyone with less than a 100 percent disability rating. The literature provided by the VA regarding the Choice program states, “…any Veteran currently eligible for VA care will retain that eligibility even if he or she uses a Choice program…”

I am a 30 percent service-connected disabled Vietnam veteran who has experienced very good care with the VA. I do not believe the VA itself is responsible for the current lack of staffing. That problem lies with Washington, D.C., and the false promises to take care of our veterans. If you are a veteran enjoying VA health care, don’t accept the Choice program. It allows very limited procedures and appears to be a thinly disguised way to limit costs and an attempt to privatize the VA health care system.

JOHN NEILS

Hauser