I am Tim Abeska

I have good private insurance, so why do I need the VA?

After my wife, Mary Ann, was diagnosed with ALS, we started quarterly visits to a multidisciplinary clinic in Chicago. Among the people we met with was a representative of the ALS Association. In casual conversation, the ALSA representative learned that Mary Ann was an Air Force Veteran. Her immediate recommendation was that we contact the VA because ALS is considered a service-connected illness. During our drive back home to South Bend, Indiana (where we were living at the time), Mary Ann and I decided not to pursue the VA because we had good private health insurance to cover expenses.

When at the clinic for our next visit, the same ALSA representative met with us. She asked whether we had contacted the VA and, upon hearing that we had not, said “You really need to do this.” So we did. Paralyzed Veterans of America connected us with the VA, and we learned that there were many benefits for which Mary Ann was eligible, going far beyond insured medical expenses.

After getting linked up with the VA, we started going to an ALS Clinic at the VA Hospital in Indianapolis. Everyone we met there was wonderful and compassionate. While our private insurance, and later Medicare, was billed for medical treatment, the VA provided equipment to us at no cost. This ranged from leg braces to a power wheelchair. As the disease progressed, so did the type of equipment provided. Many of these items would either not have been covered by private insurance or would have been subject to an advance qualification review process. By the time the review was completed, Mary Ann may have needed a different item of equipment. The VA provided equipment before we needed it, so we had what we needed when the time came.

The VA also provided benefits which are not provided by private insurance. For example, a grant from the VA paid for two-thirds of the cost of a mobility van. After we moved to what had been our vacation home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where we always planned to retire, a VA grant allowed us to modify our home to make it accessible for Mary Ann. She also received a monthly benefit from the VA, which covered the cost of things we needed to make Mary Ann more comfortable at home. The amount of the benefit increased as the disease progressed. We
transitioned to the ALS Clinic at the VA Hospital in Washington, D.C. and continued to receive
excellent care until Mary Ann died on January 1, 2019.

I hate to use the words “fortunate” and “ALS” in the same sentence, but the fact is that we were fortunate to have VA benefits available to us. This was the VA’s way of thanking Mary Ann for her service to our country, and the benefits went far beyond what private insurance would have provided. I will be forever grateful to the ALSA representative who pushed us in the VA’s direction.

For more information on Veteran Resources, please click here: https://www.iamals.org/get-help/navigating-the-va-with-als/