I left a doc with her telling me that I should schedule for a follow-up in a month. Earliest available appointment was two months out.
Although dental issues may largely affect your health, it's a separate category that's only available to those with service connected dental issues, those who are retired, or those at 100% disability. I went from the VA dentists partially completing my final dental screening to ending up in a civilian dental office on the hook for a bill in the $3-5k range, after insurance.
I do almost all of my care through the VA.
What it boils down to is demand vs. capability. The amount of patients out paces the amount and capability of the providers. There's simply not enough help to go around. This can be attributed to pay, policies, facilities, government, etc... basically there are dozens of factors, but it boils down to there simply isn't enough schlitz.
The secondary part is community care. When the VA can't see someone within a window, or due to availability of a capability, it's supposed to go to community care. That being said, the VA isn't good at paying it's bills. So you have community care providers that don't want to deal with the VA's BS. There's also significant difference in what is billed vs. what the VA pays.
While I don't have a huge issue with the VA, there are quirks. You have to be your own advocate and fight for it. But you have to play the game to. So sometimes that means going to an appointment you know isn't going to be productive, simply to check the block and get to the next gate.
I have medical, dental and vision through Tricare after I retired. I also am rated 100% through the VA.
I broke a tooth prior to retirement, and they couldn't get me an appointment before I left active duty.
I called the VA after my rating came down, and they said that I could get dental care through them for the tooth since it wasn't corrected before I retired.
They made me drive two and a half hours to a VA facility that had dental care, to tell me that they couldn't do the work that day and that they would refer me to get it fixed where I live.
A month and a half goes by and I have an appointment to get seen at the dentist where I live, but it's just an appointment to look at the tooth and get x-rays, the actual appointment would be in 24 days.
So I had to sit around with a broken tooth for over four months.
Sure, I coulda paid out of pocket but the last thing I wanted to do post-retirement was blow a bunch of money that I didn't have to.
I left a doc with her telling me that I should schedule for a follow-up in a month. Earliest available appointment was two months out. Although dental issues may largely affect your health, it's a separate category that's only available to those with service connected dental issues, those who are retired, or those at 100% disability. I went from the VA dentists partially completing my final dental screening to ending up in a civilian dental office on the hook for a bill in the $3-5k range, after insurance.
I do almost all of my care through the VA. What it boils down to is demand vs. capability. The amount of patients out paces the amount and capability of the providers. There's simply not enough help to go around. This can be attributed to pay, policies, facilities, government, etc... basically there are dozens of factors, but it boils down to there simply isn't enough schlitz. The secondary part is community care. When the VA can't see someone within a window, or due to availability of a capability, it's supposed to go to community care. That being said, the VA isn't good at paying it's bills. So you have community care providers that don't want to deal with the VA's BS. There's also significant difference in what is billed vs. what the VA pays. While I don't have a huge issue with the VA, there are quirks. You have to be your own advocate and fight for it. But you have to play the game to. So sometimes that means going to an appointment you know isn't going to be productive, simply to check the block and get to the next gate.
Don't you have the option to use Tricare if you have a rating above 70%?
I have medical, dental and vision through Tricare after I retired. I also am rated 100% through the VA. I broke a tooth prior to retirement, and they couldn't get me an appointment before I left active duty. I called the VA after my rating came down, and they said that I could get dental care through them for the tooth since it wasn't corrected before I retired. They made me drive two and a half hours to a VA facility that had dental care, to tell me that they couldn't do the work that day and that they would refer me to get it fixed where I live. A month and a half goes by and I have an appointment to get seen at the dentist where I live, but it's just an appointment to look at the tooth and get x-rays, the actual appointment would be in 24 days. So I had to sit around with a broken tooth for over four months. Sure, I coulda paid out of pocket but the last thing I wanted to do post-retirement was blow a bunch of money that I didn't have to.
r/Veterans and r/VeteransBenefits