Hey guys, some of you Vets who followed these things probably already knew this but for those who didn't (like me) I just got this letter from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and I'll quote the pertinent sections: "You are receiving this letter because you are enrolled in Dept of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care... We want to make sure you have information about the Affordable Care Act, also known as the health care law. "As an enrolled Veteran you don't need to take additional steps to meet the health care law coverage standards... You have met the new requirement to have health care coverage. "The health care law does not change VA health benefits... You can continue to use VA for all of your health care needs or complement your VA care with private health insurance or coverage by other federal health care programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE." In other words, if you are enrolled in the VA health care system (and if you are a Vet with an honorable discharge and not enrolled you should) you don't have to worry about Obamacare or related taxes/penalties, etc. I know some look down their noses at VA hospitals but I can honestly say they have always treated me fine and provided good service over the many years I've been enrolled. YMMV.
First off thanks for your service! From what i have heard of VA coverage its good and free provided you only need day to day stuff, but if, god forbid, you get something like cancer, you wouldnt want to deal with them. From what i have heard it actually sounds very similar to canadian health care, where everything is rationed, you wait six months for an MRI, a year for a new hip/knee, etc..... Its not something you would want if you can pay for better. My best friend from canada died from leukemia last year, and they ended up having to send him to seattle for treatment, because the canadian ealth care system couldnt do it, the government paid for his treatment, however, they wouldnt pay the 500$ per day he needed to stay in a quarantined apartment for 3 months while they were killing his immune system hoping the bone marrow transplant would take. Its things like that, which no one would think of that inevitably end up bankrupting a person with rationed care.
Max, thx for your comments. Just wanted to get the word out because if I didn't know about it there may be other Vets who don't know that simply registering in a VA hospital automatically satisfies any Obamacare enrollment requirements. As to what else you posted... not saying it doesn't happen but it just hasn't been my experience. No six month waits for an MRI, in my case 30-45 days if non-priority, less than a week if priority. I've also had a couple surgeries, one wasn't priority so it was scheduled about 40 days out. The other was priority and it was scheduled for 4-5 days later. Compared to the excruciating long delays I've heard regarding Canadian health care my experience with VA health care hasn't been anything like that. Maybe I've just been lucky but I've been treated at a number of VA hospitals over the years and the service has been uniformly good.
Health costs are the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. I don't know what is the number one cause in Canada, but I would guess it is not health care costs. U.S. healthcare is ranked 38th in the world and first in cost. By the same standard criteria, Canada ranks 30th and tenth in cost. The cost of U.S. healthcare is 100% higher than the cost of care in the nation with the highest quality care, France, and approximately 100% higher than in Canada. The cost of care in the U.S. is 57 % higher than the average cost in the next three highest cost nations, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland. The per capita cost of healthcare in the U.S. is up to 800% higher than in countries that rank above the U.S. in quality of care. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_(PPP)_per_capita some of this data may be up to 3 years out of date. The criteria used in the quality rankings are: Disability adjusted life expectancy, speed of service, protection of privacy, quality of amenities, and fairness of financial contribution.
My dad, a retired vet of 30 years, used the VA most of his life. They're outstanding, bordering on legendary. Or at least they used to be.