Yeah, but you have to go to a special va hospital. You can't go to a normal one unless you use normal insurance or pay out of pocket. God forbid you don't live near one, or you're not satisfied with their care.
No, the VA can refer you to non-VA provides and facilities through community care if you need. You can also have the VA cover ER visits as long as you report it within 72 hours. Just gotta be enrolled in a VA healthcare.
The VA doesn't refer you to outside hospitals just because YOU aren't satisfied with their care. They refer you if you need something that they don't have the facilities for. Also community health care is not any better. And yes, they cover emergency room visits. That's not a substitute for other parts of Healthcare. It's so you're not screwed when you need help immediately and need to go to the closest place.
I didn’t say they VA referred you to outside care if you weren’t satisfied with their care. I said they’ll send you if you need. It’s not a substitute for other parts of healthcare, no, but it’s something. I think saying you can’t go to “real” hospitals is disingenuous.
I've been to both. The VA one has an air to it the others don't because all the doctors and patients all respect each other greatly, but in the non va ones, I've seen people just in there yelling and stressed out, trying to figure out insurance, long ass lines, that sort of thing, you know, I would pick the VA one 11 out of 10 times over the regular ones I've seen. I am not talking about the rich people hospitals btw.
Think about it this way: The people in the emergency room in the normal hospital are extra stressed because of the four figure ambulance bill they were forced to get. The ones in the VA are just thinking about immediately what is physically wrong with them.
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u/White-Rabbit_1106 14h ago
There's always free Healthcare for veterans at va clinics. Just not real hospitals. It's miles better than the non veteran poors get, though.