One of the of Titan II Veterans that received my mass email to the Titan II Vets got my email forwarded to:
Lynne Harbin, Deputy Chief Business Officer, Member Services, Atlanta, Georgia. she replied to me with this message:
Good morning – I work for the VA and participated in our implementation of health care reform. Your email was forwarded to me and I was wondering if you would be interested in having a conversation with me about your concerns. Please let me know when you would be available and I can set up a call to discuss.
Thank you.
Lynne Harbin
Deputy Chief Business Officer, Member Services
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I talked, by phone, to Lynne Harbin on 1/3/2014 at 2:00 PM CST at the VA about the situation to at least clarify the problems on the VA’s end. Although, the end outcome is that I was correct in my mass email and that is the way the OMAMA CARE law was written (intentionally or unintentionally). I still believe it to be discrimination for service connected vets. She agreed to try to implement the items indicated in my message below, with in the next month (January 2014). She was going to give me a link to the VA website which would corrected the deficiencies. She requested I not give her phone number on this website as she guaranteed me the link to the VA website when the VA finished modifications that would answer all our concerns. Time will tell. Lynne seemed very honest and forthcoming about the problems. Lynne expected it to take a t least a month to change the websites.
I do want to let non-service connected Veterans using the VA system to avoid the small health insurance penalty the following: If you stay in the VA care system you will not receive the maximum family subsidy for purchasing health insurance on the Obama Care website. If the law is not changed. This is quite a mess that has been created.
For the VA to even implement the changes below is going to be a monumental task for dis-enrolled service connected disabled veterans enrolled in OBAMA CARE health plans. I predict many VA clinics/hospitals will struggle with how to implement a new policy for this group of disabled service connected veterans.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lynne,
Thank you for the good communication on this issue.
I would like to summarize our conversation. My suggestions as we talked about would be ( I may have added some):
On the Affordable Health Care Website where the software asks if you are using the VA health system the following will be added by that selection.
If you are enrolled in the VA care system you may not be eligible for the subsidy. See the VA website for more information (when updated with more specific information).
The VA health system is not health insurance and should not be considered as such.
The VA Pamphlet (with a disabled vet on the front) named the “Affordable Health Care act and you” should also state the VA system is not health insurance and should not be considered as such. Each of the veteran examples should restate this.
Add a couple of partially disabled veteran examples which explain the pro’s and con’s of purchasing health insurance through the Affordable Health Care marketplace for a veteran with a family. Don’t make him go to other websites to figure this out. A simple example like mine. Then state he will be seen at any VA clinic for his service connected medical issues.
Disclaimer on the VA pamphlet: You may avoid the Affordable Health Care penalty however, you could be putting yourself monetarily at risk for certain medical issues you may encounter in life that the VA can not assist you with or cover you in their care system. Veterans who are on Tricare, ChampVA, Medicare, and Medicaid need not concern themselves with this issue.
Each State VA system will be informed of their responsibility to treat service connected veterans for their specific medical issues without being enrolled in the VA.
Veterans will not face the IRS prosecution by requiring the veteran to pay back their subsidy for health insurance purchased on the Affordable Health Care website and being seen by the VA for Military service connected medial issues. The VA needs someone from the IRS to confirm this in writing on the VA website.
I still believe that the Affordable Health Care law needs to be amended. All service connected veterans not eligible for Tricare, ChampVA, Medicare, and Medicaid should not be penalized for being a veteran in the VA system and purchasing health insurance on the Affordable Health Care Act. All the other situations can have both and their deductibles are far less then the health insurance deductibles through the Affordable Health Care Market place.
From the Presidents speeches in front of the disabled veterans (DAV) I can not believe he or the Vice president meant this to be a consequence of his affordable health act. He stated he was expanding coverage for veterans in several speeches. The DAV has even said they believe it was not meant to dis-enroll service connected veterans from the VA.
That said, who can we contact other than Senators and Congress persons to spearhead this issue for us?
Terry N.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for summarizing our conversation. In addition to your congressional representatives, suggest contacting a Veteran Service Organization, such as the DAV, American Legion, VFW, to champion this important issue.
Again, I appreciate your suggestions to improve our communications.
Lynne Harbin
Deputy Chief Business Officer, Member Services