Can the VA refuse to treat a 100% service-connected veteran citing their case as "too complex," and also refuse to outsource them for care?

Lisa, you need to find another senator or even several senators to help you out on this. I have never heard of the VA refusing to treat anyone because of cost and I have been dealing with them since 1974.

First, send an email to the hospital administrator, if you haven't already. CC the letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, all of your state senators and representatives, and the Governor of your state. Include details of all of your attempts to get the care you need. Try to include dates and any written responses that you have had with the VA. Contact your Patient Advocate at the VA and tell them your story and give them a copy of your letter.

Be sure to keep the entire paper trail of all of your communications.

If none of this works, get back to me at [login to see] Good luck!

Lisa, you need to find another senator or even several senators to help you out on this. I have never heard of the VA refusing to treat anyone because of cost and I have been dealing with them since 1974.

First, send an email to the hospital administrator, if you haven't already. CC the letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, all of your state senators and representatives, and the Governor of your state. Include details of all of your attempts to get the care you need. Try to include dates and any written responses that you have had with the VA. Contact your Patient Advocate at the VA and tell them your story and give them a copy of your letter.

Be sure to keep the entire paper trail of all of your communications.

If none of this works, get back to me at [login to see] Good luck!

I know how you feel! I was given 1 to 5 years about 4 years ago! The only thing that will save my life is an experimental surgery. That has over 98% success rate. But it cost over 1.6 million! So the VA has denied it!

President Trump now has a hot line for vets to call about any complaints against the VA. The number is: [login to see] . I've had to call a few times concerning the VA and my complaint was taken care of within 30 days. Hope this helps ya'll.

You can if need be sue the VA for malpractice, I would hire a Attny with VA experience. I have and excellent VA Attny he works Ga,Al and Tn I know for sure. If you are in one of these areas touch base and I’ll give you contact info

Contact an attorney that specializes in VA cases, I bet things change then.

I'm dealing with the V.A. denials myself.
Not for something as major as a back surgery, but it's still something guaranteed in the care provided by the V.A. on their own website.

I'm 100% P&T, and my wife and I decided we wanted to pop out a couple little ones.
I started the process of getting my Vasectomy Reversed back in February before COVID hit the states hard.

I've gotten denial and refusal after denial and refusal.
Surgeons in my area refuse to accept "Medicare Reimbursement Amounts" for the surgery, the V.A. Hospital doesn't have anyone who is trained or specializes in the procedure.

My local Senator is a Dem. and after my initial inquiry for help in June, began ignoring my requests. More worried about the campaign for reelection than helping out.
I called the W.H. Hotline, that got me some phone calls from the V.A. Hospital, but they never called me back.

I've had literal notes from providers inside the V.A. deny my requests saying "The V.A. and Tax payers shouldn't have to pay for this, Veteran should just go pay for the surgery out of pocket and deal with it. ". I found a V.A. Surgeon at a V.A. Hospital that is more than willing and capable of doing the surgery, found all the info on the Travelling Veteran Program, and I've continued to be denied for months now.

What is the point of signing the dotted line, being promised if you get broken they'd take care of you, getting blown up and when you turn to them for the help they advertise on their own public facing website and they tell you to fu*k off?

I am almost in the same boat except right now they are sending me to specialty care. My primary care doctor however keeps reminding me how many times I have contacted them and been seen this year as if I am a huge burden to them. My lower spine and neck were injured on active duty and this December my neck started giving me problems. Xrays and mri both recommended that a conservative approach was not recommended. My doctor put in a consult for the wrong thing so nothing has been done about my neck, and when they tried to fix the consult they made it for my lower back. They finally fixed the consult but they made me an appointment for the day before I received the letter informing me of it, so it looks like a no show. I'm hoping everything will get worked out but it bothers me that instead of addressing the problem, I get reminded of how many times I used VA. Any recommendations or advice? I dont have outside insurance so I rely on VA. It also bothers me that instead of addressing my neck they keep throwing more prescriptions at me to control the symptoms from the pinched nerves like loss of bowel control. I am just frustrated.

Send a brief email to your congress person and they will get to the bottom of this...

Absolutely 100% No but the VA can absolutely flag someone for being to aggressive, violent or obnoxiously difficult. If that happens you may file an appeal but until the appeal is over you may only receive the legally required services meaning they have to see you in the ER nothing more

ANY MONIES YOU SPEND ON A SERVICE CONNECTED TREATMENT MUST BE REIMBURSED

OH NO, they can't refuse you they must send you through Community care. If you don't get the results you want have your Congressman on speed dial. WORKS WONDERS/LOL

The first step is to get into the VA health care system as a patient, then to obtain the 100% disability rating from the VA. If you think you are 100% disabled, or your health care providers are not inside the VA, then the VA will not formally recognize you until the VA holds a C&P exam, and has a formal "finding" that you are 100% disabled, and they will more or less ignore you healthcare needs, other than emergency needs.

It is a three-step process whereby you first needs to get into the VA system, then be seen by VA providers to get the ball rolling, then attend a C&P exam(s) at a VA facility, have a formal finding of your disabilities, then get the VA to treat those same disabilities.

From the sounds of it, you are being ignored as you have not enrolled int he VA health care system, or you are enrolled but the VA does not consider you to be 100% disabled, but you regard yourself as 100% disabled, or you have a non-VA health care provider who regards you are disabled, but the VA has a certain set of hoops you MUST jump through to be able to access VA healthcare.

The VA does not care how "complicated" your health issues are, they will treat them, but what they do care about is a patient must follow specific procedures to get properly hooked up to the VA health care system.

The VA only pays for meds that the VA prescribes, and your involvement of a healthcare provider who is not in the VA healthcare system complicates the matter even worse. If you want the VA to pay for anything, you need to do so through the VA and not involve outside care providers.

Of course, your outside care providers do not want to lose you are a revenue stream, so they will not be supportive of you moving your healthcare over to the VA, and will often create conflict and drama to try to trick you into not enrolling into the VA healthcare system, but the only way any of this works is when a disabled veteran moves to the VA centric health care option.

The VA does not consult on cases, especially outside cases, and just because you are a veteran does not mean you have gone through the steps needed to access VA healthcare.

Your outside healthcare providers can also recommend medication that they do not have a financial incentive to prescribe.

The Senator or even the President can not help unless you enroll as a patient with the Veterans Administration. If you are indeed enrolled and you repeatedly can not get an appointment, then the best option is to file a written complaint with the Inspector Generals office and let them do their infamous "pit bull routine" on appointment refusals.

A friend of mine had trouble with the VA that seemed endless and hopeless, he found the email of the VA Secretary and cc’d the regional directors he had felt with. Needless to say his problem found a solution very quickly...

I want to add this, my VA Dr sent me to the hospital for MRI on my neck. Once the VA neurosurgeon looked at the MRI, he sent me a list of non va Drs to research.. I found one that they approved and got right in and had spinal fusion on my neck. Nothing but the gas cost!

VA has to refer you to the Drs that are not VA. I also had to fight tri west over med cost. Call the White house in the morning [login to see] .

Can we assume you already went to the patient advocate in your local VA Hospital? After 30 years of very mixed experiences I find that sometimes in the VA system the channels do work. If you haven't done this go to the patient advocate - make an appointment and sit down face to face. Be prepared, have notes, be succinct, lay out your case and point blank ask what they can do for you and on what timeline. If you have already done this without success, its time to contact the President's VA Hotline, a congressman or perhaps the IG's office. I'd also consider finding a VFW or DAV service officer to monitor and assist with the process IF you can find one who is passionate and dedicated to his or her job. To your question - assuming your case is accurately and completely represented by the post - Your treatment is NOT OK, it is completely unsatisfactory and somebody needs to square it away.

VA Office of inspection general.
My nephew had undergone two failed attempts to remove ivc filer by va doctors.
He was told unless he underwent open heart surgery he basically would have to leave with it. he was in constant pain as the filter was lodged pinching a nerve. He ran the risk of the filter dislodging and potentially dying.
After much research, we found a doctor at Stanford that specializes in removing ivc
filters with a great deal of success.
VA denied approval for treatment at Stanford until we sent a letter to Washington OIG, within a month approval was granted and filter was removed .
Do your own research and find a facility outside of va that may be able address your issues.
If you’re are able to prove to VA that there’s treatment available outside VA, even transportation and lodging should be covered.
If you do write a letter to VA OIG send cc: to your current treating doctor and the director of VA facility.

My case was very complex to and the process was very difficult. My condition is turret syndrome but with the help of God, professionals at VA Hospital and Airforce medical staff; I could receive all my benefits in accordance of DOD directives. Never loose faith keep appealing to God and true the system until something happens in your favor. Never forget the vision of God thru are President Abraham Lincoln; that are nation has to take care are veterans warriors. In God we trust. God Bless America.

Having been enrolled in the VA for over 52 years I found out the VA can do anything they want. The VA system wthe the help of many "Veterans Organizations” are expert in babble de gook delays waiting for a veteran to get tired. For instance during the Vietnam war I was in a isolation ward with other combat veterans recovering from very severe wounds. Most are now passed on. Some because of combat wounds left untreated! TBI or Traumatic Brain Injuring is not a new combat injury. I know many veterans with head injuries and no service connection for TBI. Some others with wounds hampering them from fathering children. Only in the last few years has the VA took the challenged to help those combat veterans with combat injuries concerning reproduction. The only way in the end to help veterans is to give all Americans healthcare so the VA healthcare system can get back and focus on what they were mandated to do.