Last week, the VA announced that the healthcare enrollment
application period for nearly 545,000 living veterans who have incomplete applications
has been extended for one year. This change comes as a result of a recently
conducted analysis of all pending applications in the VA enrollment system. The
VA will review each of these incomplete applications to determine whether any of
them should have been enrolled in VA healthcare.
Required by law to notify veterans of incomplete
applications, the VA will be contacting these veterans to see if they still
want to enroll in VA healthcare and, if so, request the information needed to
complete the application. Veterans will have one year from the date of
notification to submit the missing information. If this information is not
received by the VA in that time, the file will be closed. However, veterans may
reapply at any time.
If you have an incomplete application, it is always a good
idea to submit it. The VA covers all medical treatment and costs for all
service-connected conditions, and letting this pending application expire could
cause you to lose some benefits. While you can apply for VA healthcare at any
time, the benefits from that healthcare are applicable only from the date the
application began. So filing a brand new application will cause you to lose the
benefits from the time you started the first one. You’ll still get the same
benefits, but their effective date will be later.
And although the VA healthcare system has had many problems
in the past (and still does), the VA has been working hard to improve it. Last
summer, the VA launched “Welcome to VA” (W2VA). W2VA was set up to make the
enrollment process easier. Veterans enrolled since July 1, 2015, have received
personalized handbooks and introductory letters by mail as well personal phone
calls offering assistance with health care questions as well as assistance with
initial appointments at the VA facility of the veteran’s choice.
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