That is how long it took the VA at American Lakes in Lakewood, WA. to give me a call. Just got an email, from the good folks in Puyallup WA. that was giving us free room and board, while we waited for this call, saying the VA called. NOW mind you, that referral was submitted on MAY 01, 2019 for coronary rehab. We waited for 3 weeks in Puyallup WA. for that call and made another trip to the Cardiologist in Seattle before we gave up and returned home on May 25. I'm wondering if our plans of returning to the US for BETTER VA HEALTH CARE was nothing more than wishful thinking. I thought that my war was over in Jan. 1967. I was so young, stupid and still not done growing at 18. Thank you America for a life time of war with the V.A. HEALTH CARE SYSTEN! Here is the email I just got from Roger; Veronica got a call from the VA for you (3:51 pm Wednesday 6 June) Thursday, June 6, 2019 9:29 AM Caller: female (Sherri) works for the VA Community Care section at the American Lake VA in Lakewood, WA. You can contact her at 1-800-329-8387, Extension 64545, Option 5 (call center) and ask for Sherri. The call was about your referral.
Jim, I had a good experience at the Seattle VA hospital. I went to the pharmacy with no appointment or prescription, asked them for 5 prescriptions in my online file, they called my primary care doctor for release, and I got all 5 free of charge. Sounds like maybe the Seattle hospital would be a better choice for you to consider. Take care.
Pat, You are right about Puget Sound VA Hospital in Seattle. That place is so first class and with the best of staff. I only have two problems with that place, weather and cost of living. I still have my primary care at Manila and I'm looking very hard to change that, SOON.
My plan for needing US VA treatment is to ask on Vet forums the best experience for the type of care I need and fly to that city. Might have to go through the authorization process if in a State I haven't been to VA before but that just adds an hour or two to check in. So far, when I was traveling in the US I was based in St Louis but used Tampa, Phoenix (which I had a great experience at), and Fairbanks.
For here in the Philippines, if your treatment would be for a service connected disability it would be wise to get enrolled in the Foreign Medical Program. There are some hospitals located at various places that will take care of you and file all of the paperwork and you pay nothing. None here in Dumaguete yet though. But the Medical City in Iloilo does. They also have a cardiac unit that does heart surgery along with lesser treatments.
I want to change my VA medical care from Seattle to Manila so I can get meds but I want to keep the Benefits Claim address at my sister’s US address so the results letter will go there instead of getting lost in the Philippines mail system and I never find out my rating. I hope I can have separate addresses in my file.
Should not be a problem having a residence address and a mailing address. That being said you might want to check with the Benefits side in Manila, I think they still us Air 21 for sending mail and not PhilPost.
