I got referred to a civilian doc in my city since it was way closer then the va. He referred me to a schrink, in the same office mind you, the schrinks office sent me a letter telling me to make an appt. The next day, i got a call saying they dont except my insurance “trihealth” but the doc does who is in the same building. No wonder why vets are killing themselves, you ask for help, and nada. [censored] that place. The va is the biggest money making joke i have ever seen. Anyway, rant over, have a good day

Just FYI - VA will do a lot of mental health appointments with VA Shrinks via TeleHealth or Video Appointments.

The VA is hot garbage. All of it.

My uncle had a great psychiatrist at the Dallas VA... Unfortunately, it meant driving to the Dallas VA.

I'm sorry you're having to go through that mess.

I truly hope you find the help you need. Virtual visits, as Emit pointed out, are often covered by most insurance... but I'm not sure about TriHealth. Please don't quit seeking help.

call tri west and talk to them, 855 722 2838

the va has been pretty dam good to me, would be dead had they not taken care of my cancers. I is not the va's fault a dr. doesn't take va patients, dr. needs a good slap up side the head.

The VA can kiss my retired AF a**!

I have found that the VA is overall much better with patient care directly addressing the problem. Civilian medical (in larger cities) tends to be more insurance/profit oriented than patient focused. The San Antonio VA system was really good to me. Where I am now they have a problem getting/keeping doctors. The ones they have are really good. It's a less populated area, so tough for them to attract medical staff. They have to outsource a lot of the "specialty" care. With Mental Health, they use VA physicists in a neighboring State and you connect with them via video conference from the local VA or using TeleHealth. I got to work with one a few years back dealing with chronic pain. Was a good setup.

This is why the government should not be in charge of our healthcare system in the USA.

VA has been a hot mess at ft worth and Dallas. I went in for my back and had a herniated disc and could barely walk, dragging myself around on a cane. VA drags out the appointments over 2 months then I get shots, didn’t work. They come back and say basically that I’m not paralyzed, even though I was mostly out of work Feb-May and come back and say yeah you probably need surgery but we can’t get you in for 3-4 months. Go to civ doc after getting on my group ins at work and get schedule for surgery the next week.

Prior to this, 4 years ago, VA did my first surgery on a herniated disc. They looked at the same MRI a few months apart after having nerve damage all the way to my toes and decide it wasn’t bad the first time… look at same image again months later then decide oh you need to come in next available or you could potentially be paralyzed from the waist down.

If you can use group covg that’s the best route. If you call and raise hell they really don’t care

if they can't get you in for 30 days they are supposed to refer you to an outside dr. same if you have to travel over so many miles to get to the dr. you need to see.

I tried that then they magically have spots available. They skirt the system every time. The surgery portion they always say that they can’t refer out that it has to be done at a VA facility but only have 2 spine doctors that can do it and they only work 2 days a week

I haven't been to a VA doc in years. I requested a community care physican in 2011 since it's 350 miles to the nearest VA facility. VA still picks up the mileage. This saves 232 miles and gives me better care with a civilian doctor than the VA. To qualify it depends on the mileage to the nearest VA facility and the amount of time it takes to drive there. It's work for me for both Primary Care and Specialist. Veterans don't know how to use this so they don't.

I don't understand why anyone would do telehealth medicine. That's like turning your health information over to the internet

thanks for your service. Hope you get what you need.

Sorry for your troubles but I bet the TFF OT could fix ya right up.

How does that make you feel?