VA often errs in billing vets, groups say

This is not a new problem but it is a growing one. If the VA bills you and you do not pay, or the insurance does not pay, they can take payment from your claim or if you are working, take it from your tax refund. Until a claim is approved, they bill for care so even if you know the wound was caused by service, you may have to pay for it until the VA approves your claim. What a mess!

VA often errs in billing vets, groups say

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 24, 2010 16:24:45 EST

More aggressive billing of private insurers for health care received at veterans hospitals and clinics may be a way to cut costs — but it’s also fraught with errors, a House subcommittee was warned Tuesday.

Blake Ortner, a legislative aide with Paralyzed Veterans of America, said if Congress and the Obama administration “are going to continue to rely on massive collections estimates and dollars actually collected to support the VA health care budget, then serious examination of how VA is achieving these numbers is necessary.”

According to 2011 budget documents, the Veterans Affairs Department collected $2.7 billion from private insurers or veterans in 2009 and expects to collect $3.3 billion in 2011 and $3.6 billion in 2012.

Ortner said PVA, an organization that focuses on service members with spinal cord injuries, “continues to be seriously concerned about reports of VA’s continued inappropriate billing of ... veterans for service-connected injuries as well as nonservice-connected veterans being billed multiple times for the same treatment.”

The problem, he said, is that many veterans pay the charges. The association “believes that many veterans are not aware of these mistakes and simply submit full payment to VA when a billing statement arrives at their home,” he said.

“Inappropriate charges for VA medical services place unnecessary financial stress on individual veterans and their families,” he said in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s health panel. “These inaccurate charges are not easily remedied, and their occurrence places the burden for correction directly on the veteran, their families or caregivers.”
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VA often errs in billing vets, groups say