For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's military
See also: In The Military
Agreement to enhance
health care for nativesQuestion: I am a Native Indian who served in the military and recently learned the Department of Veterans Affairs has formed some sort of agreement to improve our health care. Can you elaborate more on this?
Answer: Rural American Indians and Alaska Natives who served in the military will receive enhanced medical care as a result of a new agreement by the VA and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Under the agreement, the Indian Health Service and VA will share information, develop health promotion programs and allow for joint appointments, financial reimbursements and provider certification.
The agreement will improve communication between the agencies and tribal governments, and create opportunities to develop strategies for sharing information and information technology.
The technology-sharing will include VA's electronic medical record system, bar code medication administration and telemedicine.
VA and Indian Health Service will co-sponsor medical training for their health care staffs.
Q: I am a Purple Heart recipient from Vietnam. Has the VA changed its enrollment requirements for us?
A: The Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act amended previous law and places Purple Heart recipients in a higher priority for health-care services than before. They also don't have to make co-payments for either inpatient or outpatient VA medical services.
If you are not currently enrolled in the VA, bring appropriate documentation (i.e., DD 214 that shows receipt of the Purple Heart, discharge papers, orders or award certificates) to the VA's E-Wing located on the ocean side of Tripler Army Medical Center. The new rules also authorize the VA to reimburse Purple Heart recipients for any medical co-payments made to VA for care given after Nov. 29, 1999.
You are still responsible for making co-payments of $7 for each 30-day supply of prescription medicine given to outpatients for conditions that are not related to military service.
The Spark M. Matsunaga VA Medical and Regional Office Center urges Purple Heart recipients who have medical conditions they believe are related to their military service to contact the center as soon as possible for assistance in filing a claim.
For more information, contact the VA at 433-1000 or check out the VA Honolulu's Web site, www.va.gov/hawaii.
Q: My VA paperwork has been misplaced. How important is my claim number?
A: It is very important to you in this age of computers. Omitting the claim number on letters and forms begs for delays. Sometimes a claim will never even get to the right department without the number. It never changes and can be easily located by calling the VA at 433-1000.
Don't make the classic mistake of writing your claim number only on the outside of your envelope. Your correspondence is opened in the mailroom, the contents removed and sent on its way, and your envelope is usually discarded.
If you have questions about your benefits as a veteran,
call Fred Ballard at the Veterans Affairs at 433-0049
or visit the VA Web site at www.va.gov/hawaii
or the Star-Bulletin at 529-4747.Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin,
can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
