What and who to know to help veterans get health care

As you may have read in our meeting notes, we had the opportunity to talk with Veterans' Services Officer Leo Parent at our September 5 Health Access Network (HAN) meeting. As Leo described his role, we realized how similar the work of Veterans Services Officers (or veterans' agents) and outreach and enrollment workers can be. Both help clients navigate state, federal, and local systems, and secure health care and other benefits for people in their communities. Veterans’ agents help their clients avoid medical debt when they need to seek care outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital system, and help veterans appeal denials of claims.

• If you see clients who are veterans, Leo recommends that you get to know the veterans’ agent in your community. Here's a link to a directory of veterans' agents by town.

Leo made the point that veterans' agents and outreach & enrollment workers could gain a lot from working together more closely. For example, skilled veterans' agents still may not have experience guiding their clients through Prescription Advantage or the Health Safety Net; and people who have experience navigating clients through MassHealth or Commonwealth Care may be unfamiliar with the intricate eligibility rules of the VA health care system. Navigating each benefit type requires a different set of skills, and veterans may be eligible for benefits through more than one system.

• We’ve boiled down the helpful information gathered in our meeting with Leo into Questions and Answers about veterans’ health care.

What challenges do your veteran clients face in navigating health care systems? Are you able to build helpful working relationships with individual Veteran Services Officers or other contacts? Please comment with your lingering questions or useful contacts!