Question about US Veteran healthcare in Thailand

[flyingsaucersarereal]

Hi am wondering if anyone can answer this for me.

 

I served 4 years in the U.S. Navy and got out with a Honorable discharge about 10 years ago. I have never registered with the VA but am now residing in Thailand.

 

Is it possible to use your VA healthcare benefits from inside Thailand? Would this be something where I could walk into a hospital in Thailand and use this? Or would I just have to pay for normal private insurance? I am trying to research this online and am unclear. Thanks!

[The Hammer2021]

Telephone  a hospital- ask them if it's valid

[bunnydrops]

I am pretty sure you can't use it in Thailand, same with Medicare.

[KIngsofisaan]

100% sure you cannot use them in Thailand.

 

Keep a place in the US and have a valid VA card for free medical, but only in the US at the VA hospital.

 

 

[sletraveler]

No it is definitely not available unless you have a rated disability     
In that case you register through the Foreign Medical Program and get work done at participating facilities here.  But you only get care for the rated disability and nothing else.  This I am sure of.  

Edited July 21, 2022 by sletraveler
Clarify

[Fore Man]

34 minutes ago, sletraveler said:

No it is definitely not available unless you have a rated disability     
In that case you register through the Foreign Medical Program and get work done at participating facilities here.  But you only get care for the rated disability and nothing else.  This I am sure of.  

I can confirm that sletraveler’s understanding is correct. I am am an American military retiree and VN vet with a 50% disability rating.that covers my hearing loss and lower back problems. While living in LOS I used Tricare For Life to pay for essentially 75% of all my medical costs, once I satisfied a small annual copay.  Tricare expenses over $3,000 annually are then fully covered under its annual catastrophic cap provisions. But thanks to the VA’s Foreign Medical Program, they paid 100% of my hearing aid costs. I needed to pay up front to Chiang Mai Ram but FMP completely reimbursed me within 60 days and I was able to buy the exact Swiss-made model that I wanted costing over US$6,000. If you are not a retired US military servicemember then you cannot be reimbursed for Thai medical costs via Tricare provisions and must acquire appropriate medical insurance coverage or self fund for your care. Dental care is not included in any of the foregoing unless your VA disability includes such coverage. Hope this explanation helps. 

[swm59nj]

I would suggest to contact the VA directly for any type of official clarification.  

[Crazy Noobie]

This is from the VA website in the USA:

As a Veteran living or traveling abroad, you can receive medical care for VA service-connected disabilities through our VA Foreign Medical Program. Under this program, we assume payment responsibility for the necessary treatment of service-connected disabilities. 

[metisdead]

An off topic deflection post about the Australian DVA Disability Compensation Allowance has been removed as well as an inflammatory reply. 

[Fore Man]

1 hour ago, Crazy Noobie said:

This is from the VA website in the USA:

As a Veteran living or traveling abroad, you can receive medical care for VA service-connected disabilities through our VA Foreign Medical Program. Under this program, we assume payment responsibility for the necessary treatment of service-connected disabilities. 

I’d like to clarify that in my own experience, the VA fully paid for my hearing aid care but with a big caveat.  The hospital declined to direct-bill FMP.  There seemed to be some concern by them that they would not be easily reimbursed by the VA…that apparently they’d had some previous difficulties in doing so…and insisted that I had to prepay the full bill, including related audiology and physician costs. I was required to pay all this up front.  
 

Once I understood that they refused to direct-bilI, I had two options:  1) I needed to pay up front and then the hospital would then send their bill to FMP for payment (and then once the hospital was reimbursed, my initial 100% advance prepayment of $6,000 would be returned to me) or 2) I could simply pay in advance for all services and then submit my bill directly to FMP, bypassing the hospital’s bureaucratic financial procedures..  I didn’t want to rely on this hospital to return my money under the first option, particularly in a timely manner, and found it simpler and less stressful to submit my bill directly to the VA.  Yes, it was a bit of a hassle preparing and sending my claim paperwork to FMP, but everything went perfectly well and I was fully reimbursed within 60 days.  All that I needed were the hospital receipts and treatment records which the VA then accepted without question.

 

There were two local Chiang Mai hospitals at that time (2018) that would accept VA patients and I selected the one with which I felt most comfortable based on its audiology expertise and range of hearing aid offerings to select from.  In the end, I received the latest state of the art hearing aids made in Switzerland that synced perfectly with my cell phone and could also be used with its proprietary optional Bluetooth transmitter connected to our smart TV.  If you’d like to know the brand/model of hearing aids dispensed, please PM me.. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Fore Man

[Wrwest]

2 hours ago, Fore Man said:

I can confirm that sletraveler’s understanding is correct. I am am an American military retiree and VN vet with a 50% disability rating.that covers my hearing loss and lower back problems. While living in LOS I used Tricare For Life to pay for essentially 75% of all my medical costs, once I satisfied a small annual copay.  Tricare expenses over $3,000 annually are then fully covered under its annual catastrophic cap provisions. But thanks to the VA’s Foreign Medical Program, they paid 100% of my hearing aid costs. I needed to pay up front to Chiang Mai Ram but FMP completely reimbursed me within 60 days and I was able to buy the exact Swiss-made model that I wanted costing over US$6,000. If you are not a retired US military servicemember then you cannot be reimbursed for Thai medical costs via Tricare provisions and must acquire appropriate medical insurance coverage or self fund for your care. Dental care is not included in any of the foregoing unless your VA disability includes such coverage. Hope this explanation helps. 

Allow me to thank you for your reply as I continue to gather information to compare fully earned military retirement healthcare benefits and compare it with fully earned civilian Medicare healthcare benefits. Both groups are required to continue to pay the monthly Medicare, Part B premiums, however only military retirees receive global healthcare coverage through the Tricare program. Working middle class Medicare coverage does not cover outside USA territory (rare exceptions). My desire is to see equal treatment for both sets of American earned benefit retirees expats.

[OneZero]

Quote: "Working middle class Medicare coverage does not cover outside USA territory (rare exceptions). My desire is to see equal treatment for both sets of American earned benefit retirees expats."

 

 

Changes such as this to the Medicare Program would require federal legislation.  

[OneZero]

Changes such as this to the Medicare Program would require federal legislation. 

[Wrwest]

4 hours ago, OneZero said:

Changes such as this to the Medicare Program would require federal legislation. 

Agreed. I can dream that legislation calling for equal earned retirement medical benefits be placed on an equal basis for military and cilvilian earned benefits when required to pay the ongoing monthly Medicare premiums.

[jmcet]

I am 100% disabled and therefore my wife is civered under a program called CHAMPVA which pays 80% of cost> The hang ups are you must have medicare part B. (Does not pay outside US) Bill must first be submitted to Medicare and declined then submitted to CHAMPVA. The only way any of this can be done is by snail mail. Reimbursment is 60 Days?  I doubt it.

Rant done...have a great day