Should I take Medicare if I am receiving V.A. benefits? Yes, and Read

– From Answers About Medicare: Part 5, By JENNIFER SARANOW SCHULTZ in the NYT –

Question: What about the interplay between veterans benefits and Medicare? Should I take Medicare if I am receiving V.A. benefits?

Answer:

Generally, if you have veterans benefits, you should also enroll in Medicare Part A and Part B to guarantee coverage outside the Veterans Affairs system. In almost all cases, Medicare and V.A. benefits do not work together. To receive V.A. benefits, you must get care at a V.A. hospital or clinic unless you have permission to get services elsewhere, which is rare. In addition, Medicare does not pay for any care provided at a V.A. facility. If you drop Medicare, you will have to get all your health care at V.A. hospitals or clinics. Since Veterans Affairs does not guarantee benefits to all veterans, you could be left with no coverage at all and you may not always be near a V.A. site.

Although you should probably enroll in Part A and Part B of Medicare, you probably should not enroll in a Medicare private drug plan (Part D of Medicare), if you have V.A. benefits. Veterans’ coverage is more comprehensive than Medicare drug coverage and charges no premiums and no or limited copayments for prescriptions. Since VA coverage pays first and Medicare pays second, you will not need Medicare to supplement your veterans’ drug coverage.

In addition, if you ever do want to enroll in the Medicare drug benefit later, V.A. drug coverage is considered as good as the Medicare drug benefit (“creditable coverage”) so you will not have to pay a penalty as long as you enroll in the Medicare drug benefit within 63 days of losing veterans’ benefits.

But you may want to join a Medicare private drug plan if you live very far from a V.A. site and the Medicare private drug plan includes nearby pharmacies in its network, or if you live in a nursing home that does not accept your V.A. drug benefits.

To learn more about veterans’ benefits, contact the Department of Veterans Affairs at 1-877-222-8387.