You can have Medicare and Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits at the same time. However, Medicare and VA benefits do not work together. Medicare does not pay for any care that you receive at a VA facility.
A basic guideline to understand when you have both kinds of coverage is; in order for Medicare to cover your care, you will need to receive care at a Medicare-certified facility. With your VA benefits, you generally need to receive your health care from a VA facility.
Many veterans use their VA health benefits to get coverage for health care services and items that aren’t covered by Medicare, like over-the-counter medications, dental care and hearing aids. You might still want to consider enrolling in Medicare Part B, even if you have VA coverage.
Part B may cover services you receive from Medicare-certified providers and provide you with medical coverage outside the VA health system. If you don’t enroll into Medicare Part B when you’re first eligible, you will fall under the Part B premium penalty for each 12-month period you were without Medicare Part B coverage.
Some veterans only use their VA drug coverage to get their medications, since VA drug coverage may offer more generous prescription drug coverage than Medicare Part D, the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Since VA drug coverage is considered creditable, meaning it is as good as or better than the Medicare prescription drug benefit, you can delay enrolling into Medicare Part D without penalty. If you do lose VA drug coverage, make sure you enroll into a Part D plan within 63 days of losing your VA benefits.
You may want to join a Part D plan in certain situations. You may want to enroll in a plan if you move into a nursing home outside of the VA health system and need coverage for medications from the nursing home pharmacy. You may also want to enroll in a Part D plan if you qualify for Extra Help, the federal assistance program that helps people with Medicare afford their Part D drug costs.
You may also want to also sign up for a Medicare Supplement Plan (Medigap). It will help fill in the unpaid gaps in coverage such as deductibles, copays, and coinsurance. Medigap is a great way to protect your wealth, but it does come with premiums. And these premiums can be quite high.
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and VA coverage work quite nicely with each other. Sometimes you can’t get into the VA facility as quickly as you want, or you may want a second opinion to what your VA doctor is telling you. Enter the MA plan. Make sure your MA plan has a strong network of doctors and hospitals as well as additional benefits that VA will not offer you. Many times these benefits include dental, vision, hearing, a gym membership, an over the counter benefit (this provides a certain amount of money that is used to purchase items at the drug store like Band-Aids, ibuprofen, vitamins, cough drops etc.), and transportation to and from doctor’s visits to name a few. In many areas, these MA plans have a zero premium, so you wind up getting a parallel healthcare system with all the extra benefits for no additional premium.
Contact us so we can find a zero premium MA plan in your area.