MMAP Counselor Kitty Glomski interviews Veterans Service Officer Bill Stypick from Alpena County Veterans Affairs about what veterans need to know about choosing healthcare options from both the VA and Medicare.
Brooke and Kitty provide the calendar of events.
MMAP Counselor Kitty Glomski interviews Veterans Service Officer Bill Stypick from Alpena County Veterans Affairs about what veterans need to know about choosing healthcare options from both the VA and Medicare.
Brooke and Kitty provide the calendar of events.
Good morning. This is Kitty Glomski along
Bill Stypick:with
Brooke:my cohost Brooke Mainville
Kitty Glomski:from Region 9 Area Agency and Aging and another episode of Let's Talk About Aging. This is Kitty Glomski and I have a special guest with me, Bill Stypick, who is the Veterans Service Officer at the Alpena County Veterans Affairs. Bill, it's my pleasure to have you today. How are you?
Bill Stypick:I'm doing good, Kitty. I'm glad to be here.
Kitty Glomski:We're in the Medicare Open Enrollment season, but that's not just for us. It's also for your office as well, isn't it?
Bill Stypick:Yes, it is.
Kitty Glomski:Do you want to talk about some of the veterans services, some of those plans that Medicare beneficiaries need to be aware of?
Bill Stypick:There's a couple different things that need to be considered when people are turning 65 and they're looking into their healthcare options. Now, veterans the Veterans Health Administration, which is a department of the VA- the VA is actually three departments, the Veterans Healthcare Administration, Veterans Benefits Administration, and then the National Cemetery Department. If you're a veteran and you're turning 65 and you have TRICARE as part of your insurance package most military retirees have Tricare. I myself am a retiree and I have TRICARE Select. Now when I turned 65, that automatically turns into TRICARE for Life, and then that becomes secondary to Medicare which would then be my primary payer for my healthcare. Different veterans qualify under different programs. The second avenue is the VHA, which is Veterans Healthcare Administration. Not all veterans qualify to utilize Veterans Healthcare Administration, meaning VA hospitals and VA clinics. You have to apply for eligibility, and that eligibility requirement normally comes either via being a disabled veteran which could be rated anywhere from 10 to 100%, or you can apply utilizing their income threshold requirements. It just all depends on your situation because each veteran is different. It goes by how long you served, when you served the character of your discharge whether you've been exposed to any type of herbicides, radiation. There's been new movement in the PACT Act recently passed about exposure to burn pits, and each one comes with different qualifications. If you're a veteran and you're getting ready to turn 65 and you're looking into your healthcare, I highly recommend that they not only talk to any MMAP counselor, but every county has a Veteran's Services office. Find that office and come on in. We are located in Alpena in the Harborside Mall area next door to Save-a-lot, and we're open Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:30. We do close for lunch, noon to 1:00. I think the the biggest misunderstanding with veterans is that even though they qualify and they may be utilizing the clinic next door they want to know if they should get some type of get plan for prescriptions and things like that.
Kitty Glomski:Let's talk about that. You mentioned that TRICARE is secondary to Medicare, correct?
Bill Stypick:Correct.
Kitty Glomski:I get a lot of questions as a Medicare Medicaid Assistance program counselor. We counsel people about Medicare benefits and that's one of the number one questions that veterans always have is, do I really need to get Medicare? I'm gonna pose that to you, Bill. Do veterans really need to get Medicare?
Bill Stypick:And again, it's different for each veteran and each family. The best thing that you can do is go to Tricare.com and right on the homepage it says, find a plan and it starts asking you questions. First question, I am the sponsor. you hit that and you go to next. Active duty. Are you retired? Are you separated from the service but did not retire? And it goes on to reservists and all types of different veterans as to how you may qualify. Obviously I'm going to hit retired active duty and next. The next question are you entitled to Medicare? my answer to that is no, cause I'm not 65 yet. Now it's asking me for my zip code and it tells me your eligible plans: TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select. I have TRICARE Select. Then you click on that and it goes through all the things that deal with Tricare Select. Now if you went through this and you said, yes, I am eligible for Medicare, and they're going to ask you your age and all that other stuff, and then it's going to specifically tell you Tricare for Life. You are required to have Medicare Part A and B.
Kitty Glomski:Again, you said that the veteran's Tricare would be secondary to Medicare. Medicare would be the primary, and Medicare has two parts. It has a hospital benefit. Mm-hmm. and a medical benefit and the medical benefit is huge. It's all your doctors and anything the doctor orders for you: a test, a procedure, it's much bigger than the hospital benefit. Hospital benefits are room and board, and medical benefits are your doctors, your surgeons, tests, X-rays, you know? Mm-hmm. everything else. People don't actually know that at times and Medicare is going to pay 80%. Bill, these programs for veterans, you have a lot going there. Really, veterans need to figure out what they are eligible for, don't they?
Bill Stypick:Yes they do. Many people are shocked to hear the fact that not all veterans are eligible to utilize the veteran healthcare system. The veteran healthcare system in this country is a complete different system from any other healthcare system. It's an entity on its own, and many times veterans can qualify utilizing the income eligibility thresholds. I'm dealing with veterans right now that they qualify utilizing income eligibility and they've been utilizing the healthcare system. They've recently sold a piece of property and then reported that sale on their taxes and it was reported via the IRS to the VA, and that's income, and now they make too much money in order to qualify for the system.
Kitty Glomski:I hear you. I had a, a client too that cashed in an annuity to do some repairs on his house mm-hmm and doesn't qualify for certain benefits now too.
Bill Stypick:Many veterans come in here and they want to ask me, should I get rid of this supplemental? Let's just say prescriptions are a big issue, and they wanna know if they can utilize the VA healthcare system to get their prescriptions, which they can, as long as they're eligible. And the VA will utilize that. In some cases they're still copays that need to be paid and in other cases there's not. Staying up to date with your healthcare options, it's not just a one time thing when you hit 65 Kitty. It's an ongoing issue that, you know needs to be addressed at a minimum annually.
Kitty Glomski:I agree. That's why we have Open Enrollment. It's annual Part D Open Enrollment for people that have drug plans. And of course it's the same thing for veterans and they do need to compare. I mean, I'm all about trying to help people save money and if they're eligible for the VA and can save money. Mm-hmm., then I'm gonna send them to you, Bill.
Bill Stypick:Sure. I'm more than happy to talk to them too, but many veterans, they seem to get frustrated in the fact that, there is no definite answer. I explained to many veterans that it's your health. I don't know what your health is like, you need to make the decision as to. It, getting rid of coverage, which I never recommend to get rid of anything. But again, like you said, it, it's about how much money do you have to spend on your healthcare on a monthly basis, premiums, copays, things of that nature. I'm very leery to advise any veteran to 100% count on the VA being there in a catastrophe because, if you have A and B and you think that the Veteran's Healthcare Administration is going to cover a extended stay in the hospital that you would be required to pay the 20% for, you really ought to call eligibility and think about that real quick. Cause they don't always do that.
Kitty Glomski:That's good to hear. I guess there is an assumption that if you have VA benefits, it will cover you. Mm-hmm. Knowing that Medicare is primary that's another good reason to have both part A and part B. People want to know if they can save money on Part B. That's what it is. Like I said before, Part B is a huge benefit, right? It's the majority of what's going to be paid on your behalf.
Bill Stypick:Well, I know this much Kitty, even as a retiree myself, when I turn 65 and Medicare becomes my primary insurance carrier, and my TRICARE plan converts from TRICARE Select to TRICARE for Life, the TRICARE for Life Plan, it is mandatory that you maintain Part B. If you get rid of Part B and then you're thinking that your TRICARE for Life is gonna cover anything outside of hospitalization they don't.
Kitty Glomski:That's good to know. I've learned a lot here, Bill. With prescriptions, veterans get their prescriptions they're actually sent from Saginaw, aren't they?
Bill Stypick:Yes.
Kitty Glomski:Up to whatever office that they receive services. Is that correct?
Bill Stypick:No, mine get delivered right to my house.
Kitty Glomski:Really?
Bill Stypick:Oh yeah.
Kitty Glomski:Right through the mail.
Bill Stypick:Yep. Wow. You get custom services. That's great. And the VA does have a great my Healthy Vet program where, if you have a long term prescription, say for cholesterol or metformin for diabetes, you can just go right on your Computer or smartphone and just order your own when you're ready to order. Normally takes them about a week and they're in your mailbox.
Kitty Glomski:They're in your mailbox; it's a mail order pharmacy. That's great. With Medicare plans, it doesn't matter if it's Part D or Advantage, they also have a mail order pharmacy. It sounds like your turnaround is a little bit longer, you have more time to order the next round of drugs. People are always afraid of not getting it on time, and I always tell them don't wait until the last minute to order.
Bill Stypick:Right, right. Another consideration too, Kitty. So far we've talked about eligibility, utilizing income thresholds, and of course those thresholds are based on whether you're a single veteran, whether you're a married veteran, how many dependents you have in your home, but the other issue that should be addressed is whether you're considered a disabled veteran. Now many veterans don't believe they are. However, things like tinnitus, bilateral hearing loss, any type of injury while you were in, these are all possibly compensable issues. The primary thing for that is once you are rated as a disabled veteran, even if it's simply 10%, you can utilize the veteran's healthcare system and I don't care if you win the lotto tomorrow, you still qualify because you are a disabled veteran.
Kitty Glomski:So that's no matter the income then, if you're considered. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Bill Stypick:You're a disabled veteran. You can utilize the healthcare system at any time.
Kitty Glomski:Now that disability is due to your service, correct?
Bill Stypick:Correct. It has to be service connected. That's step number one. just as an example, somebody who's been in aviation in the military for 15, 20 years chances are you're gonna have some moderately severe type of hearing issues. Whether it be tinnitus, which is the ringing in your ears or bilateral hearing loss you're going to have those issues and those would be compensable issues. Now, obviously the percentage is based on your level of hearing loss but until you come in and ask and put in a claim for those things you'll never know. Then anything else that may have happened to you while you were in the service, whether it be a broken leg, you hurt your back, you blew out a disc. I mean, anything that possibly happened to you needs to be looked into. I just highly recommend if you are a veteran just swing into our office and talk to us. Cause you just never really know what the possibilities are.
Kitty Glomski:And it sounds like there's a lot of on ramps.
Bill Stypick:Oh, yes, there is. But again, a lot of people are shocked to hear about the healthcare issue because if you're a veteran, you went in, you did your four years, great, you know, honorable discharge, you got out, you got yourself a good job, you're making$50,000 a year, let's say. You're not going to qualify for the healthcare utilizing that as a single veteran for your income threshold. Coming in and talking to us and figuring these things out, not only for today, but for your future going forward is an hour out of your day can answer a lot of questions.
Kitty Glomski:I agree totally. Is there anything else you wanna add, Bill? This has been fascinating.
Bill Stypick:Well, I guess I'll just finish up with we are a two person office, myself and Dan. And again, Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 4:30, we go to lunch noon to 1:00. Just come in and talk to us. We can help you get DD214s. We can talk to you about your possibilities and just come on in. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Kitty Glomski:Do they call you to schedule an appointment?
Bill Stypick:Oh, no, we're a walk-in office and normally, nobody's waiting more than five or 10 minutes. Just come on in when you got the time.
Kitty Glomski:This is for Alpena County residents, correct? Every county has their own office with their own equivalent of Bill?
Bill Stypick:That's correct.
Kitty Glomski:All right. Thank you Bill. I'm sure I'll have you back on another episode of Let's Talk About Aging. You have a great day.
Bill Stypick:Thanks Kitty. Anytime. This is Kitty Glomski and Brooke Mainville, with the Calendar of Events. Brooke, you have a Diabetes Path class. It's an interactive online workshop that begins November 16th and runs through December 21st. That's six weeks on every Wednesday from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Again, that's a Diabetes Path online workshop.
Brooke Mainville:If you would like to register or get information, please contact me at 989-358-4616 again, that was 989-358-4616. Or go to our website at NEMCSA.org/ senior services, and you'll find all the online registrations for all the different items there as well. That's all I have for the calendar of events.
Kitty Glomski:Thank you, Brooke. With the Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program, we also have a New to Medicare virtual presentation. This happens every second Wednesday of each month from 10:00 to 11:00. This is for anyone who is turning 65, new to Medicare, or disabled and new to Medicare. This presentation explains how Medicare works. Then afterwards you get to meet one on one with a counselor and talk about your personal situation. To register, you can call 1-800-803-7174 or contact your local Senior Center, your Commission or Council on Aging, and they can make the appointment for you. So this is Kitty Glomski and Brooke Mainville asking you to join us again next time on Let's Talk About Aging.
Carla:Let's Talk About Aging is a production of the Region 9 Area Agency on Aging, 2569 US 23 South, Alpena, Michigan 4 9 7 0 7. This Podcast was supported, in part, by grant number 90MPPG0039 from the US Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC. Podcast music provided by Groove Music, selection titled"Modern Logo," created by Vadym Kuznietsov and can be found at https://elements.envato.com/modern-logo-ZVHFBJ6