Getting Health Care Overseas

Posted by Kaili Morris
December 04, 2021

Germany Caucus Coordinator, Saarland Precinct Captain

GETTING HEALTH CARE OVERSEAS

Useful information for retired veterans who are living overseas. N.B. Use your previous U.S. address, not your APO address, for the DS Logon Registration for e-benefits.

Also important is the fact that you can receive medical care for VA service-connected disabilities through the VA Foreign Medical Program.

Veterans Living Overseas

excerpts: https://www.benefits.va.gov/persona/veteran-abroad.asp

If you’re a Veteran who lives overseas, you remain entitled to the benefits and services you earned through your military service. Most VA benefits are payable regardless of your place of residence or nationality. VA benefits include disability compensation, pension, education and training, health care, home loans, insurance, vocational rehabilitation and employment and burial.

Getting Healthcare Overseas. As a Veteran living or traveling abroad, you can receive medical care for VA service-connected disabilities through our VA Foreign Medical Program. Under this program, we assume payment responsibility for the necessary treatment of service-connected disabilities.

Foreign Medical Program (FMP) - Community Care https://www.va.gov/COMMUNITYCARE/programs/veterans/fmp/index.asp

From VA Information For Veterans Living Overseas: from MilitaryBenefits https://militarybenefits.info/va-veterans-living-overseas/

VA Resources For Veterans Living Overseas The first thing a veteran or soon-to-be retired or separated military member should do is to visit the VA official site to set up an e-Benefits account, which you will use to manage your VA benefits in the United States or from the overseas location.

You will need to register at the DS Logon Registration page but rather than supplying your last military address, use your last recorded USA address instead.

Veterans In The Philippines For veterans living in or considering relocating to the Philippines, the Department of Veterans Affairs has special resources. The VA Philippines overseas page includes some important details about getting VA benefits, especially health care.

In the Philippines, veterans may be eligible for care for ”non-service connected disabilities” at the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic. The VA says this option is only for veterans “who are already receiving care at the outpatient clinic and whether the clinic is able to provide the needed service.” In such cases, the veteran may be required to pay for treatment “for non-service connected disabilities by non-VA care providers or by an outside medical facility.”

How To Prepare To Use Your VA Benefits Overseas This is an area that requires more planning and forward thinking than some anticipate; in some cases your access to VA benefits may be a matter of your physical location and any challenges there.

If you choose to live in Germany, where there is a network of U.S. military bases, military hospitals, and related support operations, you may have an easier time accessing some benefits than you might if you decided to relocate to Reykjavik, Iceland where U.S. military members were once stationed at nearby Naval Air Station Keflavik… There is no U.S. military support system in place in Iceland that could compare to what those remaining in Japan, Korea, Spain, Italy, or Germany might enjoy.

Direct Deposit of VA Benefit Payments Arranging direct deposit into a non-US bank may require some additional preparation, and in some cases may require the use of a translator. If you have an overseas bank account rather than an account with a company headquartered in the United States, be sure to ask what is typical when arranging such direct deposit payments. You may be required to obtain international routing numbers, SWIFT codes, International Bank Account Numbers, etc.

VA Resources For Veterans Living Overseas Or Planning To Do So If you plan to or already have retired or separated from the military in an overseas location, there are VA resources waiting for you via phone, e-mail, and online:

Basic VA benefit questions and assistance–(412) 395-6272 or visit the VA Inquiry Routing and Information System

Education benefits–(918) 781-5678

International Direct Deposit and currency conversion–(918) 781-7550 or via e-mail [email protected]

VA benefits representatives at American embassies and consulates–online at the Social Security Foreign Country Service Information page

VA Overseas Military Services Coordinator–get contact information online at the VA Overseas Military Services Coordinators page

Finding an accredited representative to help you manage your benefits–online at the VA Manage Your Representative for VA Claims tool

Other VA Resources For Veterans Living Overseas. VA Overseas Military Coordinators (OMSCs) can help service members, U.S. Veterans living or working overseas, and their families and dependents with VA Benefits transition to a life overseas. The following contact information is broken down by geographic region as presented on the VA official site:

Germany

Kaiserslautern. [email protected]

Vilseck-Bavaria. [email protected]

Italy. [email protected]

United Kingdom. [email protected]

Japan/Asia-Pacific

Iwakuni. [email protected]

Okinawa. [email protected]

Yokosuka. [email protected]

More information about VA benefits for Veterans living abroad

Medical Treatment Questions Only

VA Foreign Medical Program Office