How often do you get all your family in one photo. Sis Elsbeth far left, with husband Peter, did it recently, children, grand-children, fiancee, girlfriends, husband.  Cool, go do it, make it happen.

Wow, once again way too long since last blog. Such is life. This blog will probably be of interest primarily to Vets, but you may read further if you like.

At the end of last blog, I said that as a Vet I have VA Health Care benefits. Basically I had forgotten that I was eligible for Vet benefits. I signed-up online. No, it does not suffer the misgivings of the Affordable Care Act’s online fiasco. From that blog, I was surprised to receive many request to report on my experience with the VA Health Care System.

Went for my first medical appointment. I was impressed, the quality of the doctors assign to me where professional, very knowledgeable,  efficient, and listen and respondent positively verbally and laughs and smiles to my rants.

Let me explain, I believe that to get the best care, a patient must be proactive, meaning be prepared with questions, do your research, read online about any conditions you may have. If a doctor talks above your head, keep asking questions till you get the understanding you need.

At the VA medical appointment, the doctors were prepare to spend as much time as I needed to answer my questions. And they eagerly suggested that emailing them with my questions, at anytime would be welcomed. Had a second appointment with a different specialist, had the same positive experience.

One negative, have gone twice, two weeks apart to get my VA Health card, and twice left without my card. Was told, The computer system in the east coast processing VA Health cards keeps crashing.

So, at least at the VA Health Care Facility I go to, the doctors appear to be excellent, but the infrastructure supporting the health providers seemed military like, and implemented by civilians following somewhat military like rules. If you are a Vet you probably would recognize the military like protocols.

For me, will be saving between $400 and $500 per month. However, if you have a spouse, don't know what would be for the spouse. Probably one would need to talk to a VA Health Care Benefits counselor, perhaps several times, to get an understanding of coverage. My understanding is that, even if you have non VA Health Care in order to provide a spouse with a desirable health coverage, if you are a Vet you can still signup for VA Health Care benefits. It costs nothing to signup, you can learn about the system. If you are fortunate to have health care coverage thru a pension like I have had, at many monthly $$, things will likely change as you get more advanced in age, 65, and need to signup for Medicare and Medicaid. In the long term, we don't know what will result with the implementation of ACA. Perhaps being a Vet and with a spouse, can result in excellent Health Care for both at much lower monthly costs. If you don't check it out, you may never know.