A card that will make healthcare access easier for all veterans living in the CNMI is either in their mailboxes already or coming to them within this month, according to the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs\u2019 website.<\/p>\n
According to the VA, the Veterans Choice Card allows an eligible veteran to access non-VA health care providers for up to three years, based either on the distance a veteran lives from a VA facility, or if he or she is experiencing wait-times beyond the 30-day standard.<\/p>\n
The 30-day standard applies when the veteran cannot schedule an appointment within the \u201cwait-time goals\u201d of the Veterans Health Administration, or the date medically determined by their physician.<\/p>\n
This means veterans here in the CNMI can use their Choice Cards to avail of the services of other healthcare providers that are not deemed a VA facility.<\/p>\n
Ruth Coleman, VA\u2019s Pacific Islands Health Care System\u2019 Saipan Veterans Clinic administrator, said that one of their patients has confirmed that he already has his Veterans Choice Card.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral have probably already received their Choice Cards but one thing they need to know is that it involves a co-payment and doesn\u2019t fully cover the whole payment, especially if it is not a VA facility,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Coleman said they have been seeing their veteran patients well within the 30-day standard.<\/p>\n
Those who are eligible are those enrolled in VA health care on or before Aug. 1, 2014, or be eligible to enroll as a recently discharged combat veteran within the 5-year window of eligibility.<\/p>\n
They are also eligible if their residence is more than 40 miles from the closest VA health care facility or faces a geographic challenge for travelling to a VA facility.<\/p>\n
The Choice Card also does cost sharing. If an eligible veteran has another health-care plan, VA will be secondarily responsible for the costs related with non-service connected care and services furnished to eligible veterans through the choice card or program and primarily responsible for service-connected care.<\/p>\n
The next date of distribution for the choice cards will be in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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