Todays message to the V.A.

I have no desire to move back to the USA. The VA in the Philippines has made it impossible for me to get the medical help/care I need. As you can see by my records that I am a 100% P&T vet but the VA here treats me as if I was a, DIShonorably discharged Vet. A couple of months ago the VA left me to DIE just because I did not have $60,000.oo USDs in my pocket to pay for the care I so desperately needed.
If I have to travel to Manila once a year JUST to get my meds refilled. I might just as well travel to the USA once a year and get ALL the health services that I am entitled to.
HOW do I move my VA care to an OPC on the west cost of the USA and still live here at HOME with out having to move/live where I have no desire to live?
I firmly believe that America has turned it's back on all of us vets that live outside of the USA.
So PLEASE tell/help me do that, so I can still get the medical help I need and deserve?

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Just come across this on U-Tub. Please take the time to view.

 

Jim, are your medical issues agreed upon service related? Even if they are not I thought the VA covers if your income and assets are low?

 

When y0u figure that out, I'd love to hear it. Things like outdated 50 year old ideas and protection of the US medical industry come to mind.

 

VA Manila is the only VA outside of US territory and was only authorized to provide care for the Filipino Vets who served in WWII when the Philippines was also an American Territory. Since the clinic is there, authorization was given to include all Vets - but only for VA Rated Service Connected Disabilities. This includes all Vets up to and including 100% P&T. Any other care you need from basic medical, optical, and dental (for 100%) that is available at the other VA locations are not available here.

Looking at it as glass half full - we are lucky to have this added benefit as it is not available anywhere else in the world. FMP is the only option for them, and is a program you should apply for ASAP also. Foreign Medical Program: https://tinyurl.com/y5lgsrv9

Seems most Vets look at it as glass half empty - we are being screwed because Manila VA is different.

 

If you don't mind, can you give us more details on what happened and how you dealt with it?

 

O.K. Steve, here is "My Coronary Nightmare"

FUK THE V.A.'s FMP, I'm still breathing. The assistant Dr. At the Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu that assisted in the first angiogram told one of his fellow workers that I was a dead man because we declined their bypass because we did not have the pesos equivalent to $40,000.oo USD's in our pocket. He didn't know that Maria was close and was my wife,

We went home to Valencia and I bought air line tickets to Seattle. Made the flight to Manila, checked into the Hotel 101. About 9 hours before we were to board the flight to Beijing China I was in sever coronary distress. We checked out and went to the nearest ER, St. Luke's Medical Center - Global City. After 6 days of promises of a by-pass from the Dr.'s the Accounts receivable person came to tell us that the ₱400,000 ($7,650.oo) that we had already paid was used up in the 6+ days I had already stayed in the Coronary ICU. She wanted another ₱400,00 ($7,650.oo) to cover the rest of my stay in the ICU. She wanted another ₱600,000 ($11,472.oo) to reschedule the bypass surgery. The cardiologist attending to me all this time was just as surprised as we were at that news. We prepared for the A.M. discharged. That night Dr. Jessore Ababa Isidro MD called me in the ICU at 20:00 hours and told me that he and his associates were discussing my case/situation and had come up with a plan that he believed would get me to the VA in Seattle and he would see me first thing in the morning to discuss it. His plan was; Check out of St. Luke's and into the Manila Doctor's Hospital where he would preform an angioplasty with out stents that he believed would make it posable for me to get to the VA in Seattle.

During the admissions process at Manila Doctor's $hit turned for the worse and I was wheeled to the ER. A large dose of Morphine and a short stay in the ER. I went to the Coronary Cath lab and the angioplasty was preformed. The next morning I was feeling like I might live a little longer. After paying the bill for the procedure and 2 day stay we were out of available cash and the Vise credit card was maxed out. Problem now was the money to get tickets on PAL's nonstop flight to San Francisco. My brothers and several other friends came to my rescue. As soon as I was discharged from Manila Doctors we went direct to the airport. The next day at Sea-Tac we ask Alaska Air people if we could call the VA with there phone. They wanted to know why we needed to call the hospital. We told then some of what we went through the last 2 weeks and they called 911. With in minutes I was surrounded by EMTs. Vitals taken and a ride to the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, (hospital). Short stay in the ER and then to the ICU. Next morning another Angiogram and Angioplasty the second in two days. This time they went in through my right wrist. Three weeks of pain in my right forearm, with out pain meds to handle it.

The VA Cardiologist told me that a by-pass was not an option any more because the Cardiologist in Manila had done such a GOOD job at opening the 4 blockages in the front a by-pass now would not do any good, in fact it would cause far more harm that good. They did break up the blockages while they were in my chest.

The VA Cardiologist then told me that he had ordered and authorized coronary rehab. I just needed to wait for a call from the rehab people to get the when, where and how long. 23 days later we had no communication from the rehab people and started our trip home.

Got back home here in Valencia on the morning of the 25. Now doing D.I.Y. Rehab here with a trainer from a Dumaguete gym.

Up date; 06/05/19 Feeling much better. No angina sense May 1, 2019 right after the Seattle V.A. visit. The pain and bruising in my right forearm is gone and no shortness of breath today.

Up date; as of today 06/14/19 doing my own coronary rehab twice a week. Still no angina but have some shortness of breath.

Two doctors during this Coronary Nightmare made remarks that were over heard by my wife that, "He, (meaning ME), is a dead man. One in Cebu and one in Manila at St. Luke's. There were several time during this Nightmare that I was sure I was about to kick the bucket. It was my three surviving brothers that came up with $2,000.oo each and friends and family here in the PI that came up with, almost, another $1,000.oo that allowed us to get to Seattle and the VA there. Yes I am service connected for; coronary heart disease, broken bones, hearing loss in both ears, diabetes, ptsd, unemployability and on top of all that I'm 72. My service covered just days under 10 years active with 2 years of inactive with three honorable discharges.

I now have just over $6,000 in debt to pay back when I was debt free until April this year.

I only have the best of prays for the V.A. in the states, it's the FMP that is a huge threat to my life.

 

Wishing you the best Jim.

 

How long after discharge did you apply for and how did you connect to service coronary heart disease?

Since you are service connected for coronary heart disease did you apply for FMP reimbursement for the Cebu and Manila Hospital, and Duma Rehab Bills? I would think you should get all that back.

It sucks but noone made us move overseas (I am 100% also so lose all the same benefits you do). We are a little better off and a little spoiled having the only VA Clinic out of US Territory. Yes they could do better and it Really Sucked when they cut out Travel Reimbursement (I have to go every 6 months to keep up my pain meds), but it is more than Vets in every other country have.

I filed my 1st FMP Claim May 14th, haven't heard anything since it was accepted and don't expect to until at Least August.

I wonder if we have met, I live in Valencia also, a block and a half from Naspri.