http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility/Lib ... ity_Check/

Sorry, I forgot that it was if you served overseas in a theater of Combat Operations in the last 5 years, not just any service. Once pretty much one and the same for me. There are also other qualifiers such as having a low-household income.

Honestly as much confusion as there is with the younger generation of vets trying to get their education benefits, there is 10x as much regarding healthcare. Largely because so few young vets are seeking it out yet since we're all, well, young and still reasonably fit. Give it 20 years though.

Hmmm interesting. Well I've deployed 3x to a combat zone so I seem to qualify. Definitely going to look MUCH further into this!

Yeah, VA Health Benefits is probably the hardest fight I had with trying to get the vets at my school to go get registered, do a disability evaluation, etc.

,

No, it's any service. You just had to be honorably discharged. There is a separate OEF/OIF plan for those who have issues relating to their deployment (this one is all free I think, with no need to show proof of income/lack thereof). I think the income threshold is low, but I've seen the co-pay chart and it isn't awful even if you're rich.

So I just got off the phone with the VA. It seems to work like this, so correct me if Im wrong:

It is based off of your income from the PREVIOUS year. If you made under 55k per year, then you are essentially eligible for VA medical coverage at VA hospitals. All you need to pay is a co-pay. It covers everything, to include stuff that occurs after your service and things that are NOT service related at all. So if you fall down the stairs and break your leg while running to class, all you do is pay the appropriate co-pays, which seem extraordinarily inexpensive from what the guy on the phone said.

In order to apply, you have to be off of active duty for 1 day. Stop in at the VA hospital and apply. He said within 1 hour you should be good to go and completely covered.

Am I missing something here? This seems too easy and perfect.

Everything you said is absolutely correct. There are, however, some downsides to VA healthcare.

1. You have to go to a VA health center. If you go to a regular, non-VA hospital, you're screwed and will be on the hook for all the payments. In a city this isn't a big deal, but if you live in a very rural area, that can mean hours of driving.

2. The wait. Oh dear god, the wait. The average time between making an appointment and actually getting to see the doctor, for me, has been about 3-4 weeks. If it's an emergency, yeah you can just go in and it operates like any other emergency room. But for check ups, screenings, etc basically anything that requires an appointment, you're going to have a long wait list.

Honestly though, its been invaluable for me and has already saved me tons of money, and the benefits well outweigh the downsides.

I'll be in NYC, so I imagine I'll have ready access to a VA hospital. And I can deal with waitlists.

This sounds great. Reallllllly happy i found this, and I'll make sure to pass it along to all of my fellow Marines.

Trying not to sound greedy, but anyone ever heard of negotating for more yellow ribbon money? I was planning on going to GULC ($2500 yellow ribbon contribution) but now just saw that GW upped their contribution to $15,000...thats a $25,000 swing per year. Think I have room to negotiate or at least ask?

It doesn't hurt to ask but I think the YRP is pretty much set in stone. (I could be wrong) Now, perhaps you could get some merit $$$ using the YRP difference but not sure how successful that would be since the schools are in different leagues....

I am older than even the average military 0L so only applied at schools where the YRP would make up 100% of the difference but it will cost you nothing to test your theory......

You could always sit out a year and go for UVA or Mich where you would be covered 100%.....

.

Hey everyone. Just found this thread so I am a little late, but I figured I would introduce myself.
Usmc
Sgt
Infantry

Heading to northwestern in the fall. Best of luck to everyone.

Hi everyone, I'm new and just found this topic, but am very glad to see so many vets on here.

About me:
Active Duty Air Force E-5
April '07 to present (separating in April 2013)
Linguist (DLI graduate)
Stationed overseas for 4+ years
Undergrad GPA 3.9
Taking LSAT this October, but practice tests have been in the high 160s/low 170s. Trying to improve over the next three months of intensive study.

Applying for Fall 2013 admission. Applying to Yale, Harvard, UT, UMN, Baylor, and SMU, with other schools TBD.

Welcome...

Yut

Not at Columbia but at another Ivy and it is all covered by my GI Bill. It is listed on my semester bill but then it shows up as paid once they factor in my GI Bill and YRP.

But is your entire tuition covered by GI Bill + YRP (plus whatever scholarship you may have)? At Columbia it most definitely isn't.

isn't the mandatory fee stipulation just saying what will be included in "actual tuition and fees" (re: the YRP requirement that you can't receive more than the higher of the actual tuition and fees or the 17500 cap). so, yea, the mandatory health insurance would technically be covered by the YRP, but since Columbia doesn't put up enough matching money to cover your full tuition+fees, it doesn't matter.

Yeah--I think the wording on the web site was just out of date because it was referring to the original version of the Post-911, when Columbia would have been free. Man, there's such a huge financial gap between Columbia/NYU and Harvard/public T-14's for vets using Post 9-11. It's good to see Columbia is at least increasing their YRP, though (I think it's gone from 3500 to 4000 to 5000 next year)--anyone know if NYU is planning to do the same?

Just as food for thought, if you have a 20% or greater disability rating through the VA, you can qualify for vocational rehabilitation. If you do, you can get the full cost if law school covered regardless of YRP amount of the school. The benefits for the vet are the same between vocrehab and post 9-11 in terms of BAH.

101, where is the best place to start with the disability thing? I have been meaning to look into it for a while and have NO idea where to even start on it.

Well, step 1 is to determine where your nearest VA health center is. You can just use Google maps and search for VA Health Center. You can tell me your city and I can find the nearest one if you want.

Once you do, go to their website and find their Registration Office phone number. You'll have to get registered before doing anything else. It's a pretty painless process (relative to trying to renew your CAC card at DEERS), just need your DD-214.

When you setup your appointment to get registered, ask them to give you the phone number for the disability rating office. They'll be able to walk you through the process from there. Generally, you'll want to have all your paperwork in order before showing up for your appointment, especially your medical records from your service. Oh, and make photo copies. The form you'll have to fill out is here:
http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/vba-21-526-are.pdf

You'll get an appointment date for your evaluation, and depending on what you claim, you might have a few appointments to go to. It will likely be a few weeks, but don't get discouraged. Make sure you tell them EVERYTHING regarding medical claims. Even if you don't have paperwork to support it. Even if your knees don't seem that bad now, you have to imagine yourself in 20-30 years when trying to make a claim with the VA will be all but impossible. Get it all on record now to save you a lot of hassle later in life.

Another tip is to see if there are any veteran organizations in your area, like a VFW or AmLegion, as they can help you with the VA.

Thanks a lot 101. I am in (near) DC now but will be in NYC for school in about a month so would imagine I want to do it there. I actually have my medical records from when I did my final medical stuff on AD. It was the very first time I was 100% honest with a flight doc in my life.

Thanks a lot for the info.

JC

Does it matter what your disability is for? I got 30% when I got out, but was under the impression that you had to be pretty much unemployable due to your disability to qualify. That's not my case, so I didn't really think Voc rehab was a viable option for law school.

I'm not sure to be honest, I haven't gone down the road of VocRehab just yet.