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On Fri, 18 Aug 1995 23:13:24 John Cottingham <[log in to unmask]> opined: >In article GABRIEL ZWIERSKI <[log in to unmask]> writes: >>If you are a Veteran, you are entitled to care at a VA medical facility >>whether service-connected or not. It is no cost to you if you make less >>than $16,000 and have no health insurance (my case). >Non service connect vets like myself are eligible only for general surgery >and life-threating emergency care. It depends on what category you are. As Gabriel states, a non-service connected vet who earns less than $16,000 per year is classified as Category A, which means they are eligible for all services provided by the VA medical facility and all they pay is the Rx co-payment. Service connected vets are automatically Category A regardless of earned income. When you apply to a VA medical facility they are supposed to let you know what category you are. It sounds as though you are Category D. >>Also, most VA hospitals have excellent (if understaffed) neurological >>departments (think of head wounds). >The neurology and dermatology clinics are only available to service >connected. The only time this would be true is if the facility could only handle Category A patients, due either to a shortage of personnel or an over- whelming number of patients. By the way, this should be less of a problem in the future since the trend is to co-locate all new VA medical facilities with a teaching hospital. Also, a lot of people still have the mental image of a run-down, decrepit facility whenever you mention a VA hospital, but the new ones are state-of-the-art and are better than most civilian hospitals. The Baltimore VA Medical Center, co-located with the University of Maryland Medical School, is a prime example. What Gabriel said about eligibility is true. I do not have a service connected disability (my PD was diagnosed too late to qualify), but I am Category A because my earned income is less than $16,000 per year. I also spent a year under the care of a VA neurologist until I became eligible for neurological treatment at Johns Hopkins. In a way, I am approaching the system from both ends. For a couple of years I worked as a systems analyst on the computer system used for the VA's GRECC project (which studies the relationship between lifestyle and medical problems in the elderly) and I am currently using University of Maryland Medical School/VA computerized medical records for my dissertation research on developing statistical models of patients to aid in diagnoses and treatment. Bruce ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bruce G. Warr "Experience is what enables us to recognize Healthcare Informatics Lab a mistake the next time we make it." Information Systems Dept. University of Maryland Baltimore County http://umbc.edu/~warr/ (V) (410)455-3206 (F) (410)455-1073 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~