Brian talks to Todd Sledge at the Cincinnati VA

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The folks are Cincinnati VA. Lovewhat they do. That's their passion to
help veterans get quality medical care,and they do their best to achieve that.
They will accept complaints and they willadjust themselves accordingly if there's a problem,
and a man behind all that demonstrablyso over the years. Todd Sledge,
welcome back to the program. Myfriend I got a call this morning.
I believe his name was Keith,and he said, I just want

(00:20):
to have a comment to you aboutthe VA because he heard me mention you're
going to be on the program,and I'm thinking, oh, here we
go. He started. He said, listen, I lost my job.
He said. I was in themilitary. I think it was a long
time. He obviously had re enlisteda couple of times, but he either
didn't take advantage of VA benefits previouslyor he just signed up, and either
way he lost his job along withhis medical insurance. He turned to the

(00:43):
VA and he said, Brian,I couldn't be happier. He said that
when you have an appointment, they'reready for it. You don't have to
sit around for an extra hour likethe doctor's office sometimes does. They honor
their appointments. They take great careof you. He had nothing but great
things to say about it. SoI wanted to pass that along to you
and thank you for helping out thevets in there at the VA. Yeah,
Brian, I really appreciate that.And it's a good start to this

(01:03):
week. And it really is anexample of so much feedback that I hear
from so many other veterans about thequality of service, the type of service,
and and he's right, you know, are the mandates that we have
on us about how fast we're supposedto see people, you know, we
don't keep our veterans waiting around accordingto those things. Well, that's great,
And I know you wanted to talktoday about the expansion of the Packed

(01:27):
Act, which a lot which extendsthe the the the those eligible for VA
healthcare for exposure to toxic chemicals andtoxins and the like. So let's let's
dive on into that. It justhappened, yeah, back on March fifth,
and you know, not to nottoo far back a couple of months
back again, one of the biggestlargest and expansion of v A healthcare that

(01:49):
I've seen in my long tenure underthe Packed Act. I've talked with you
about this a couple of different times, but what it's involved in this expansion.
Instead of the VA waiting to rollout the different phases of this pack
DECT regarding eligibility for veterans, theyjust said, you know what, we're
going to speed up the five yearplan that we have and go ahead and

(02:10):
invoke this. And really what itmeans is if you know veterans who've served
in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan or any other combat
zone after nine to eleven, youcan enroll and you need to enroll,
and so any of these toxic exposuresstuff in Southwest Asia, if you were
deployed to certain operations under nine toeleven or global warr and terrorism, the

(02:34):
door is wide open. So's it'shealthcare we want you to apply for and
get in. We also encourage youto apply for those disability compensations. There
could it could be some monetary benefitto you with the healthcare that goes along
with those toxic exposures that are veteranswe're exposed to. Well it says you
can't you can enroll now? Isthat enroll in the VA healthcare benefits generally

(02:54):
speaking, with the d D twofourteen. Or is this once you've enrolled
in the VA healthcare benefits that youneed to roll in roll separately under the
Packed Act. No, it's allwoven together. Yeah, it's all woven
together. So when you're this eligibilitypart of the pack Act allows you to
roll and roll into the VA healthcarebenefits where there used to be some possible

(03:15):
barriers, one of those being,as you've heard me talked about before,
would be income. So let's say, you know, sometimes veterans have been
denied health care access because their levelof income, their success in life,
and they don't have a service connectionor other related factor. This allows them
to roll underneath that blanket. Fantasticand the benefits of the enrolling in the

(03:36):
VA cannot be understated. And asI always like to point out Todds when
you and I are talking, thiswas part of your salary. They didn't
pay you a lot when you're fightingpeople in Vietnam, and you got a
whole heapload of medical benefits that youcan take advantage of that they didn't give
you as real time salaries. Sothat's one of the things. And you're
not taking away benefit from any otherveterans when you enroll. They got you

(03:57):
covered. Let's pause for a minute. We'll bring Todd back and talk about
the benefits of the VA coming upwith an eight forty five, just shy
of eight forty cares. He doescare. We notably care a lot about
our American veterans. And also ToddSledge from the Cincinnati VA feels the same
way. And I love this VAhas beaten out non VA hospitals and quality
ratings and patient satisfaction ratings, andyou know, the neat thing about the

(04:17):
VA and something that people need tokeep in mind. Veterans have unique needs
and challenges. I mean, whoamong us has been exposed to all the
chemicals and burn pits and the likethat their service for our country. That's
why you have the Pakdact. Butthe clinicians at the VA understand the specific
veterans' needs as distinct from the generalpopulation. Yeah, Brian, that's one

(04:41):
of the things that I like toemphasize a lot. And thanks for doing
that. As you know, wesay, who knows you know veterans better
than us at the Cincinnati VA.And I know some of our veterans who
get some some care outside of uswho go out and experience some things they
try to take us some alternatives.Always come back and say, my provider
really didn't unders stand in the languageI was talking, and so you know,

(05:01):
this is why I choose to usethe benefits that I have. And
that leads into you know, anotherimportant thing about this Packed Act and VA
eligibility is that you can keep yourprivate health insurance and use VA. Yes,
and you want to do that.It's it's a tremendous bonus to be
able to do that, and that'sjust another one of the big advantages.
And why to enroll. Well,let's cut to the chase. What do

(05:24):
veterans need to do? I knowthere's veterans out in the audience because you
running them every day. People whohave been discharged honorably with the d D
two fourteen. They've been out forfive years, six years, three years,
maybe twenty years or even longer.They never did sign up. It's
never too late to enroll. Sowhat do they need to do? Yeah,
it's pretty simple process. A coupleof different things that veterans can do.
They can call our eligibility office atfive to one, three, four,

(05:47):
seven, five, six, four, nine nine, that's five to
one three four seven, five sixtyfour nine nine. That's a direct dial
number, no exten extensions. Youhave to push to talk to our eligibility
specialists there at the VA. Andif you're particularly calling about to pack deck,
make mention of that as well,and that that will get you get
your role in it and get yourquestions answered. Brian. We've also started

(06:11):
back up our mobile unit out tothe community. We started that two weeks
ago out out where we're actually indifferent locations we are or we're being strategically
located on different Wednesdays, folks.You can find that out on our website
at Cincinnati dot VA dot gov.You can see it on our Facebook page
as well. But yeah, we'restrategically being located at nku's campus one Wednesday

(06:34):
out in Hamilton. Another Wednesday happenedthis week. We're at the Launchburg Speedway
right there on our large parking lot. And then we're also going to be
using UC Claremont. Our mobile unitallows people to come right to it with
no appointment, ask your questions abouthow to get to how to get enrolled,
and if you've been previously enrolled andhaven't used this in a while.

(06:55):
You can also contact that mobile unitand we can get you scheduled. Why
right away. One of the thingsI wanted to emphasize real quick, Brian,
is just by enrolling in VA Healthcare, even if you don't plan to
use us, we still receive thatcompensation benefit from Congress. That's part of
our budget. So even if yousign up and you're not using the VA,
you're still helping other veterans out byhaving that allocation that comes into our

(07:19):
system. Oh, I did notknow that, So you can hit the
ground running when that veteran does indeedgo in for some medical care. Yeah.
Absolutely, So if veterans out hereyou're saying, yeah, the VA
is not for me, I totallyget that. There's different reasons for it.
But just by you signing up andwe see you one time a year,
we get counted for your service,your your benefit from Congress on how

(07:44):
we're funded, and that money triculatesto other veterans. So you're helping out
your feller brother, Well, Ihave to ask you this question because you
know the non veterans who don't havethe benefit of one of the VA.
You said, seeing the veterans ofthe VA hospital once a year, can
you get your maybe your annual fhiscalthere I mean covered by the VA as
opposed to maybe getting out of pocketresponsibility on your medical plan. Yeah.

(08:07):
Absolutely, we have a lot ofveterans that do that. They'll use us
for their one time a year physicalexam, and you know, if they've
got other insurances, they may usetheir private insurance for other related types of
things, but that one type ofthe year keeps them connected, keeps them
enrolled. And I definitely encourage anyveterans who are under the age of fifty
five to do that because then you'revested and you are enrolled for whenever you

(08:31):
would need us later on in life. Don't wait for that the circumstances to
change, as you said, youknow, lost my job or my spouse
retired. Now we don't know whatwe're going to do with healthcare coverage.
There's so many benefits of why justto get em enrolled well and going back
to the Pact Act. Even ifyou haven't any manifested conditions as a consequence
of your exposure to toxins, sometimesthose do take a long time to result

(08:54):
in a medical problem. I mean, last thing you want is something like
that to hit you down the roadand you don't plan on it and roll
now and you're covered by the packdec Yeah, absolutely, there's been.
You know, it seems you know, with with all this stuff, you
know, it seems like nine toeleven has really never ended. That's what
I when I talk with with ourwith our veterans who have been multiple deployments

(09:16):
and multiple different things in your right, some of these things may not surface
until later and later in life.And then when they do, uh,
you know, by being enrolled,you can hit hit the ground running with
us and you know, get allthose things determined. The other thing too,
with the packed act. As peopleare coming in, they automatically get
a toxic exposure screening. That's hugeand it's it's it's not any blood work,

(09:39):
it's no poking and prodding. There'ssome questions related to it. And
based off of that screening, thattoxic exposure specialist will refer veterans off to
specific testing if they if they identifydifferent things. Todd seless since a VA,
thanks again for what you do eachand every day, and all the
folks at the VA for their hardwork on behalf of the American Veteran I
appreciate you coming on the program andpassing along the good news and the information.

(10:01):
I'll look forward to having you backon a program again. My friend
sounds good, Brian. I alwaysappreciate what you're doing. And you know,
hey, veterans getting rolled. That'sall we're simply asking you to do.