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Thank-you FlyerNation, that was my point. W.R. is military and look what happened there, dispicable.
I have no problem speaking up at town hall meetings and letting everyone know there needs to be a change and it should have happened a long time ago.
I can't believe this thread is still going! Use your head folks!
One 'vet' is refused a nose job and dental implants and folks rally around them! The need for a nose job and dental implants are NOT service related and they are 'elective surgeries'. There is a very real possibility that this particular vet cannot qualify because she does not meet the conditions that responsible doctors require ALL elective surgery patients to meet (see below).
I'd actually like to see where this is covered by Tricare Prime, because it must be new or very well hidden. After nursing 4 kids, I wouldn't mind a little lift.
A friend of mine was just denied (for enlargement - she met another wife who had them done) , but she got the who/why/what. She did not send me a link, but she said that it's allowed under certain circumstances. Some of the mandatory ones:
1) The surgery takes place at a military TEACHING hospital (makes sense, they need practice for the legitimate surgeries, ie those related to masectomies, etc)
2) Must have at least 12 months remaining at current duty station
3) Must be "less than" a B cup, enlargement no larger than C
...and then there are the usual requirements for elective surgery - ie, weight normality, non-smoker, mental health evaluation, etc.
If you recently lost a lot of weight through bariatric surgery (like the OP), they will sometimes cover the lift/skin surgeries, but in addition to meeting the requirements for elective surgery and having your weight loss verified by the military, they generally want to see at least a year at your current weight and you must have a "normal" BMI, plus the excess skin and sagging must be causing other problems - yeast (doesn't need to be current, skin yeast infections leave scars), infections, cysts, etc.
The day the Walter Reed story hit the news I attended a townhall meeting called by my my congressman. I stood up and asked for his reaction about the WR story.He had not heard about it at the time By the next day he was all over the news how this was going to be fixed. Yes, let them know but follow up daily.
When my friend called her congressperson about a veteran's issue they sat on it 4 months. Follow up frequently.
By the way (hope I do not get cut on this one) if you have a Facebook account, there are several veteran organizations there.
Also check with your Veteran's orgainizations in your city. Many have days in which lawyers visit and give assistance for help.
The VA system may have made improvements over the years, but it remains an absolute disgrace. I am so sick and tired of hearing people like you speak as if this system is just fine and dandy. It's full of bureaucratic bull****, plain and simple. Reforms need to be made wholesale.
Screw the VA. Other than its leverage on prescription drugs, it FAILS MISERABLY. Let the private sector give back to those who are willing to actually make a sacrifice to this country.
Veterans should be able to go to any doctor or hospital in this country and receive the medical care they need, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. And the taxpayer should foot the bill each and every time when medical treatment is needed. And don't tell me that this great private sector, with its mega profits, couldn't handle veterans care.
If this country cannot handle the burdens placed on veterans, we should seriously revisit all of the foreign occupations and commitments.
How's that for a god damn complaint?
-signed,
Navy Submarine Force Veteran
Not very good.
Is your complaint service connected?
Which VA?
What is your rating?
Tricare didn't refer you back to your PCM who then wrote a Tricare approved referral for your problem to be treated by the doctor in town? This makes no sense.
At best, a referral should have taken care of this.
Tricare didn't refer you back to your PCM who then wrote a Tricare approved referral for your problem to be treated by the doctor in town? This makes no sense.
At best, a referral should have taken care of this.
mmm, kind of self-contradictory I think.
If you are using Tricare then you are not being treated on-base, you are in fact being treated by civilians in town.
Other than that what is a PCM? I assume Primary Care 'Manager'? But I am guessing. Is that different than your PCP?
I don't thnik that its somethoign new or has not been addressed. loo at the presdiental debates where Mccain was asked about it. He said he had come to the conclusion that veterans should be given a card that will allow them to use it at any medical facitiy. ut my guess is once a dept in governamnt is established its hard to get rid of it even if broken.I don't think it makes financial sense to keep hosptials that were meant to take care of the needs of millions of WWII vets open these days really.
I don't thnik that its somethoign new or has not been addressed. loo at the presdiental debates where Mccain was asked about it. He said he had come to the conclusion that veterans should be given a card that will allow them to use it at any medical facitiy. ut my guess is once a dept in governamnt is established its hard to get rid of it even if broken.I don't think it makes financial sense to keep hosptials that were meant to take care of the needs of millions of WWII vets open these days really.
That was proposed before the Gulf War, Iraq, qnd Afghanistan at a time when the Veteran Population was shrinking by 3,000 a day.
I don't think that its something new or has not been addressed. loo at the presidential debates where Mccain was asked about it. He said he had come to the conclusion that veterans should be given a card that will allow them to use it at any medical facility. ut my guess is once a dept in government is established its hard to get rid of it even if broken.I don't think it makes financial sense to keep hospitals that were meant to take care of the needs of millions of WWII vets open these days really.
This Federal agency must be looked at within a certain context.
There was a time when you could study for two years and afterward be a doctor. They did not have all of the medical knowledge that is available today. Likewise a doctor could pack most of every thing he needed into one small leather case.
Today individual diagnostic machines take an entire room plus lots of energy, doctors have studied long and hard, and still there is far too much for any doctor today to know all of it.
When lifespans were shorter and nearly every ailment could be treated with either a saw, opium, cocaine, or sulphur. Diagnosis and treatment was simple. All internal ailments were 'consumption'.
When it was that simple, the idea of a few VA hospitals did make sense. Places where wounded vets could go to die without burdening small town doctors.
Today we have a rainbow's array of diagnostics, specialists, techs, nurses, lab techs, radiologists, physical therapists, reconstruction, [I can barely express the varieties of medical professionals today, without insulting most of them because I would be forgetting most of them]. that is just to demonstrate how massive the medical profession has grown.
I do not doubt that today 99.5% of the ailments treated today among vets, would be things that we would have been told 100 years ago to take a pain med for and go home.
The entire medical field has grown everywhere. The thought that for every possible medical treatment that a family could ever ask for could all be provided by the local doctor at a cost of three chickens a year. Is totally insane today.
Having lots of computer equipped diagnostics and lab equipment, techs, doctors and nurses treating thousands of diseases that were not even given names back then; will cost a proportionally higher percentage of your Gross National Product.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 04-06-2010 at 08:09 AM..
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