VA rolls out new health care application to help remove barriers to access
VA has led the nation in both health care and health care research for more than 40 years. The department has remained on the cutting edge of medicine – from winning a Nobel Prize for diabetes research to developing life changing innovations such as the pacemaker and the nicotine patch, there is little doubt that VA has accomplished much to improve health care for the entire nation.
However, world-class health care is not much good to those who can’t access it and accessing VA health care has not always been easy. Actually, it’s been very frustrating for a large number of Veterans over the years, but enrollment is about to get easier for Veterans seeking eligibility.
Sloan D. Gibson
“In order to improve access to care, we reviewed many of the steps Veterans must take to receive that care and found that improvements needed to be made in the initial application to improve the Veteran experience and remove barriers that hinder access,” said VA Deputy Secretary Sloan D. Gibson. “I am happy to announce that VA will soon be launching the new online health care application on vets.gov.”
Beginning June 30, 2016, Veterans applying for health care will be directed to health care application on vets.gov. Unlike the online 10-10EZ and previous applications, this form does not require special software to open, nor does it need to be printed by the Veteran or VA staff to be processed.
“Veterans could previously apply for health care online, but the user experience was often frustrating, and the process required VA employees to generate paper applications that were manually entered into our eligibility verification and enrollment processing systems,” Gibson said. “The application is a HTML form on vets.gov that requires nothing more than an internet connection and 15-45 minutes of your time depending on the complexity of the application. The application can also be submitted without a login. We believe it is important to make this process as easy as possible. A log-in option will be added later this year, allowing Veterans to save their application and to update their information, but it won’t be required to apply for health care.”
The new application is for Veterans who have not previously applied for VA health care. The 10-10EZ (paper form) will still be in the forms database, so Veterans and third parties serving Veterans can access the form to print it out. However, the expectation is that anyone seeking to apply for care eligibility online will use the online application, or call the number listed on vets.gov.
“Providing health care to our nation’s Veterans is one of the most vital services we provide at the Department of Veterans Affairs,” said Gibson. “Through the MyVA transformation, we are working to rebuild trust with Veterans and the American people, improve service delivery and set the course for long-term VA excellence and reform, all while continuing to deliver better access to high-quality care.”
The new health care application form is available here and, is a starting point for any Veteran interested in applying for health care eligibility. For additional information, please visit the Health Benefits Application website.
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I have been told I have a severe traumatic brain injury I was retired from the u.s.n.r. In 1999i had been working with a rescue squad and a fire department as a volunteer in 2012 I wrecked a firetruck was in a coma for 7weeks hospital from May to December sent home in a wheelchair told that was it. I fought with it went to McGuire VA hospital now I am useing a walker or a multi point cane spent 4 months in polytrauma transitional unit was sent home in April I would love to drive in May my mother and me went into the department of motor vehicles ask the lady at counter if my CDL was still good she look it up on computer she rest computer three times went and talk to her boss come back told me it was good but I would have to watch out because of my injuries a week later I get a letter from DMV say ing my license was suspended. While at polytrauma unit I took drivers clinic once a week one hour. Learning to drive with a knob on steering wheel and a adapter left side gas pedal . That was a blast learning to drive 7 weeks later told it was on hold a year I just want to drive a car not a commercial vehicle
my husband also was a heroine addict with extreme PTSD & suffering from Agent Orange; he would probably be alive today if this had been available.
My husband is a heroin addict with extreme PTSD which his ego will not let him accept. He would never get into VA information so I took the step of having VA mail the application to me and I sent it to him as I had to move out due to domestic violence. It’s not going to be helpful for him because he rejected the idea of VA services, but I’m glad this improvement is there for people who don’t have a loved one anymore because of how they can burn bridges.
Glad when they can see that we care and want things to be easily accessible for them.
Thanks Veterans, much respect!