VA Benefit Series: VA Healthcare Benefits available

After you separate from the Military, there are VA Healthcare Benefits that are available for service members. Many veterans are eligible for VA health care benefits, but they don’t know they qualify or how to apply.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is obligated to ensure that you receive the assistance. This includes hospital care and outpatient care services that have been defined as “needed.” VA defines “needed” as “care or service that will promote, preserve, and restore health.”

As you prepare to separate, you are always guided through the TAP Program. But there are still questions about healthcare. After you’ve sacrificed so much for this great country, you want to make sure you’ve signed up for everything that you qualify for moving forward in your civilian life.

Qualifications:

There are qualifications for VA benefits. Service members must have been considered active service and cannot have been dishonorably discharged.  To be considered for active service, you must have served full-time service in the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Coast Guard.  You also qualify for active service by being in the Reserve, Air or Army National Guard and activated by the government. Cadets and midshipmen who are enrolled in academies are also qualified. Veterans with dishonorable discharges cannot receive benefits of any kind from the VA.

In most cases, you need to apply for health care, but in some cases, enrollment is automatic.  Automatic enrollment happens for circumstances such as; qualification of over 50% disability, or if you are discharged and in the middle of receiving disability care. Applying for healthcare if you need to can be as easy as a click online here.  A general list of what you qualify for you can find directly through the Department of Veteran Affairs here.  There are lots of options and special programs available in the VA healthcare world. Depending on your service and possibly disability, you may qualify for. These problems include treatment for:

• Blindness Rehabilitation
• Post Traumatic Stress
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Agent Orange Exposure
• Gulf War Syndrome & Related Illnesses
• Radiation Exposure
• HIV/AIDS Treatment

For more Veteran and Veteran-Owned Small Business owned resources, visit more on our blog.