For Your Benefit
For and about Hawaii's military
See also: In The Military
VA to offer mail-out
prescription benefitsQuestion: I hear the Department of Veterans Affairs will now honor private non-VA doctor prescriptions. Can you explain more about this?
Answer: Some veterans waiting to see VA physicians for the first time may be eligible to receive medications from VA mail-out pharmacies that were prescribed by private doctors under a new transitional pharmacy benefit. To be eligible for the new benefit, veterans must meet all of the following conditions: Have enrolled in VA health care before July 25, and requested their first primary care appointment with VA before July 25, and must be waiting more than 30 days for their first appointment with a primary care physician on September 22.
Veterans covered by the new rule will receive information by mail from the VA about filling prescriptions by mail from non-VA doctors, including information for the doctors themselves.
The first prescriptions will be filled under the new program on Sept. 22. This new process of giving veterans the medication they are seeking will enhance their health care treatment and reduce the waiting lists for everyone. For more information, contact the VA at 433-0600.
Q: I have heard about the VA-sponsored Golden Age Games for disabled veterans. Can you elaborate more on the games and when they will be held?
A: The 17th National Veterans Golden Age Games, sponsored by the VA and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) will take place Aug. 7-12 at Orono, Maine. Golden Age Games competitions are open to all U.S. military veterans age 55 or older, currently receiving care at a VA medical facility. The Togus VA Medical Center and Regional Office are hosting the games. The games give participants the opportunity to compete in open and wheelchair divisions according to their age, in sports such as swimming, bicycling, horseshoes, bowling, croquet, and a pentathlon (softball hit, discus, shot put, basketball free throw and air guns). The majority of the Golden Age Games events, including opening and closing ceremonies, will be held at the University of Maine, Orono campus. Today, 38 percent of all veterans are 65 or older.
For more information on the Games, call Jenny Tankersley, National Veterans Golden Age Games public affairs coordinator, at (310) 407-3155.
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.
