Dear Vets,
If you call your elected officials or the VA you will most likely be told you do not know what you are talking about as all have been mislead by the VA/media and told nothing has been done to affect your VA benefits and the Obama Care enactment. You are safe they will say. If you are happy with the VA alone, yes you are fine under certain circumstances.
Call the Atlanta VA which is in charge of all enrolment and disenrollment (404-828-5257) and ask for Barbra Roberts or her supervisor. They know the real truth as they are the ones getting the disenrollment requests from vets stumbling onto this mess.
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Obama Care or the Affordable Health Care Act makes partially disabled veterans (for that matter all veterans not retired from the military) choose between health care for their family and receiving a subsidy or VA health coverage(not insurance) for their military service connected disabilities.
If you want real health insurance coverage (VA is not health insurance recognized by the VA itself at the following link) https://sites.google.com/site/titan2vet ... -be-fooled
For your family and yourself on the Obama Care market place website you do not find out until you are a third of the way through applying that you must check a box that you are in the VA system. When you get to the end of the application you notice your premium for coverage (in my case) $1260.00/mo for two people. Holly crap! The coverage is for a high $3,000.00/yr per person deductible with out of pocket not to exceed $6,000.00. This policy is also an 80 percent/20 percent payment schedule up to the $6,000.00/per person per year. I think you get the point that this is not cheap health insurance.
Here is the problem that you have to figure out on your own as the stupid software writers of the Obama website don't explain by checking the VA box you just forfeited your subsidy. I am sure many disabled and non-disabled veterans have not figured this out and have just left the website thinking this is outrageous pricing for such a high deductible policy.
In order to get the subsidy you must not check the box stating you are in the VA. When you get to the end of the program it will find that you are in the VA and state you must dis-enroll from the VA in order for you receive the subsidy. https://sites.google.com/site/titan2vet ... re-subsidy
This document has to be uploaded to the website in order to finish your application. Do not delay this process or the IRS will be knocking at your door next year. Your income had better not change next year and put you over the income bracket for your number of dependents or the IRS will be back to get the subsidy. Seek your tax accountants’ advice. In my case I get a subsidy of $570.00/ month off the $1260.00/month health insurance. This is still a high price for a high deductible policy and me paying out of pocket costs up to $6,000.00 per year per person.
Why would you create such a pain for partially disabled veterans to deal with? This now gets the VA and government off the hook for their responsibility to care for your service connected disabilities and puts it squarely on your shoulders. As you have this high deductible Obama health insurance that will take care of an annual physical and catastrophic medical problem for your wife and you (in my case) it does NOT pay for your daily medication and physician visits for your disability from military service. All these expenses count to your $3,000.00 deductible for which you pay up front.
The VA has the responsibility to treat the partially disabled service connected veteran by law for service connected disabilities. I have been told by VA officials in Wisconsin that I will not be seen or get my medications if I am not in the VA system for my service connected disabilities. Although, Atlanta VA enrolment headquarters says you do not have to be enrolled but says to check with your local VA. If I do get seen for my service connected medical problems without being enrolled in the VA system will the IRS now come and get my subsidy back?
Call your senator's and congresspersons about this disgraceful policy of the government to turn their back on disabled veterans through the OBAMA CARE ACT.
Update: 1/5/2014. One Titan II Combat Crew Commander got involved. He helped me by getting Lynne Harbin, Deputy Chief Business Officer, Member Services from VA to verify my facts below. The ex-Titan II Commander forwarded my email below to his Senator in Vermont which then got action from the VA. The VA's hands are tied as it is law and Lynne Harbin recommended we need to get Senators, Congresspersons, the veteran organizations like the DAV involved to change the Affordable Health Care Act (Obama Care). Lynne’s emails and my phone notes (verified by her in a follow-up email below) from conversations are below from 1/3/2014. Lynne has the task of trying to formulate/implement a new procedure that the VA Clinics and Hospitals in every state will have to see service connected disabled veterans without being enrolled in the VA system. Then every VA doctor can only treat your service connected medical problem without getting involved in any other medical issues you have. Lynne's mission is, in my eyes impossible. This is going to be a huge undertaking and Lynne has a mountain to climb to implement something this complicated.
Get involved and help as this is going to affect many disabled veterans and their families unfairly. Retired Vets, 100% disabled Vets, Vets on Medicare and vets with employer insurance are not affected but just about everyone else is. Email your representatives. Take five minutes to help.