September 25, 2025 • 59 mins
We walk through a clear path to enroll in VA healthcare, choose and use primary care for referrals, and separate benefits battles from medical care so you get help faster. We also show how to access geriatrics, housing grants, VR&E, Independent Living, and practical mental health support for families.
• enrolling in VA healthcare with DD214 and eligibility review
• choosing primary care and preparing a focused first visit
• asking for geriatrics at 75+ with complex needs
• using referrals to unlock specialty care and prosthetics
• separating VBA claims from VHA care to avoid conflict
• switching primary care via note and patient advocate
• home safety upgrades through housing grants
• mental health access with spouse-inclusive support
• dental eligibility routes including 100% P&T and TDIU
• VR&E and Independent Living for independence and tools
• ID.me shift for VA.gov access and verified discounts
Ray does a radio show on Tuesdays on WZYX … It's at 9 a.m. Central Time
Tune in live every Thursday at 7 PM EST and join the conversation! Click here to listen and chat with us.
Visit J Basser's Exposed Vet Productions (Formerly Exposed Vet Radioshow) YouTube page by clicking here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
J Basser (00:09):
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, veterans and all and
families.
I'm your host.
My name is John Stacy.
They call me Jay Basser.
I've got my superstar co-hostright beside me, Mr.
Ray Copp, in the great state ofuh either LC or Talabama,
Tanlabama or whatever it is.
And uh we are we are JayBassers Exposed Vet Productions.
(00:35):
Uh we've been doing the showfor quite a while, and we do a
lot of stuff with uh VA claimsand VA appeals and VA this, VA
that, court cases andconditions.
Today we're gonna mix it up alittle bit.
Ray and I are going to discusssomething that every veteran
needs to know, especially if youuse a VA.
Or if you're a veteran thinkingof using the VA.
(00:56):
We're gonna start off ourseries called Navigate the VA.
But we're gonna make a coupleannouncements first.
Uh Ray's got one he's gonnagive out.
Uh Ray, how you doing, bud?
Guest (01:08):
I'm doing good.
How are you doing?
J Basser (01:12):
I'm doing just fine.
We were talking there beforethe show there, and uh you were
discussing the situation with IDMe.
Could you give an audienceupdate on what they need to do?
Ray Cobb (01:23):
Yeah, come October the 1st, all veterans that are
going to use uh BA.gov needs tochange from a couple of the
others that they've had in thepast that haven't worked very
well to ID Me.
I had to make that change, oh,I guess it was uh a couple of
years ago.
And uh uh it actually it's alot better.
(01:46):
Plus, ID Me has some otherbenefits to it.
Uh for example, if you um well,go to Disney and you want a
discount on your Disney tickets,and you tell them you're a
veteran, they ask you to fillout the ID meet, and they
identify you, and it identifiesyou as a veteran, and you get
your discounts.
A lot of motel reservations areusing that.
(02:08):
Um uh you order some of thedepartment stores are using it
now to identify veterans inorder to give them their
discount.
So there's a lot of uh reasonsto use ID meet or to get on it,
but the main thing is that ifyou want to uh function and
operate and maneuver throughVA.gov, you're gonna need ID me.
J Basser (02:35):
It also works with automobile discounts.
You have to register online.
You have to register online.
Yeah, you gotta make an ID meaccount.
And uh they have to verify, andyou probably send the
information to them, you know,who you are.
And it's not hard to do, but Iwould do it.
I mean, I've done I've had minefor years.
(02:56):
Um, I've used their services awhole lot, and uh they have a
lot of good discounts.
You know, it's all over theplace, but still it's a lot of
good stuff.
Thanks for that informationwhere everybody needs to heed
this and get her done because uhyou can also use FVA.gov, you
know, log on.
And but uh he benefits theother one, the DS logon, I guess
(03:17):
is going bye-bye per se,anyway.
Ray Cobb (03:19):
Yeah, that's going it's yeah.
After October the first.
J Basser (03:30):
Good thing about October 1st, Ray, is it's the
new fiscal year.
Maybe the VO get some money andstart paying some of these
claims, you reckon?
Ray Cobb (03:37):
Well, I got an email this morning from the American
Legion that said that thebacklog of claims has been
drastically reduced.
Uh and uh 45%.
J Basser (03:55):
Pardon they said about 45% that uh something that's
Doug Collins came out with thatyesterday too, talking about it.
The Secretary of the VA.
Uh they talked about theproduct.
Ray Cobb (04:09):
What we don't know though is how many of those were
actually what percentage ofthose were denied because they
didn't spend enough timeresearching you know, or they
didn't uh the bank themselvesdid not have the proper
documentation turned in.
(04:30):
So that that's that's what I onthe wh whenever they start
dwindling those numbers downquickly, the easiest way to
dwindle those numbers down is bydenial.
Um it's easier and less worsethan if they approved.
(04:50):
So uh be interested to know atthe 40 percent, 45 percent
reduction, what percentage ofthose were denied and what
percentage were granted?
J Basser (05:06):
Well, you can really tell that we asked the question
ourselves because in the groupswe're doing, we the agents group
and the VSO groups, theynoticed a very strong uptick in
the number of appeals, thenumber of denials that were just
totally bogus.
So what they're doing isthey're overloading the DROs,
(05:29):
the appeals process for theself-mill is getting full, and
the BDA is probably gettingracked pretty hard right now.
And so basically it's robbingPeter to PayPal.
And uh so they can say 45% allthey want, but we asked the
question is during the same timeperiod that the appeal's been
(05:51):
reduced to 45% of the backlog,what is the actual appeal
percentage to the appeals versusthe claims backlog?
And I'm pretty sure it's gonnabe even teeter-totter, you know
what I mean?
Guest (06:05):
Yeah.
J Basser (06:05):
It's like ride the teeter totter.
The claims on a teeter totter,the pills up in the air, the
appeal's down a teeter-totter,the claims up in the air.
So it's just and if you've gota lot of fat claims on the
teeter-totter, the pills ain'tgetting off.
Until the fat claims get off.
So another thing you've got toremember is that.
Ray Cobb (06:20):
But now we're at that point in in the year when when
VA has gone to Congress to askfor more money to do stuff.
And of course, the first thingCongress said is show us what
you've done with the money wegave you last year.
And so now they can come outand say, oh, well, we attached
these backlogs and this backstuff, and we've done this and
(06:40):
we've done that, and it looksgood, but there's no proof of
how much it's improved toveterans.
Um, and that's a good way tobalance the budget.
Uh, you know, nothing looksworse than to go over the
budget.
Um, they'd rather be just alittle few dollars short than to
(07:02):
go over it.
And uh, gosh, I can rememberwhen I was in the government,
uh, they came to me in uh Ithink it was August or September
and told me to order all thefilm that I could order for X
amount of dollars because theyneed to spend that dollars
between then and and then uhSeptember when they went to get
(07:23):
the final amount for what to runthe photo lab that I was in
charge of uh come October.
I bought I bought almost ayear's supply of film there in
in one month.
We've got everything.
Film, slides, everything, blackand white, all of it.
Uh because we had the money inthe budget, we had to spend it,
(07:46):
but they wanted us to spend itbefore the fiscal year was up.
J Basser (07:51):
That's true.
I mean, I remember back in theold days in the Navy with the
ship was out to sea and it'slast September and had to get on
the one MC and everything youdon't need throw it overboard.
We're getting new stuff and wepull in.
Guest (08:06):
Yeah.
I heard that.
J Basser (08:13):
Well, let's navigate the VA.
Um I start off by internallyinside the VA.
Um we do it this way.
Uh I'll call myself Billy Bobor Pedro.
I'm Billy Bob.
Billy Bob is a veteran.
And uh I get out of service anduh I don't have any health
(08:36):
insurance after I get out, youknow.
If I don't work a temporaryjob, I get going.
So I need health insurance.
I need something something todo.
So what do you do?
You know you're gonna use theVA.
So you go in the VA and what doyou do?
Well, first thing you do is youmake sure you got your DD 214
with you and show your dischargebecause they're gonna look at
(08:58):
your character discharge.
You take out 214 over toeligibility in the eligibility
office is I'm gonna go toeligibility and they'll put you
in, show you where to go.
They'll take you in the room,sit down, talk to you a minute,
look at you, and look at yourpaperwork, see what group you
fit in, where you at, whatco-pays you gotta pay, and
things like that.
And then they'll enroll you inthe system.
(09:22):
You can do it online too, butit's better to walk in and do
it.
Um you need to get enrolled inthe system first.
Uh last week I enrolled aKorean veteran.
He's 90 years old.
And he's had a 10% disabilityever since he got out back in
(09:46):
the 50s.
Actually, it's 20%, I'm sorry.
He never used a VA.
But um his life has changed.
He was an educator, he was evena flex director of a major
college.
And he had his spouse passaway, and his doctors are
(10:07):
passing away because he's 90years old.
And he needs some things to dowith his ears and his eyes, and
just you know, his hell.
So we'll enroll him in the VA.
And uh it's gonna take him alot of money in the long run.
So he's happy about it.
We had to send his off, though,because it's some kind of
extraordinary circumstance, theytold me.
And uh, but when we get back,we'll get him in there and get
(10:28):
him signed up, you know, get himin and get him a carry.
He lives way out in the middleof nowhere, so he, you know, his
VA is gonna be probably a CBOclinic or something.
And uh it's pretty cool.
But always register and enrollin the VA health care.
What's the next thing you do,Ray?
Do they give you a primary careor what do they do?
Ray Cobb (10:47):
Yeah, they do.
And when you enroll, uh you dohave to qualify.
Now, your friend had adisability out there when he got
out of the military, so heautomatically qualifies.
But there's a couple ofdifferent ways you have to
qualify.
Now, I do not know, I've neverasked.
If you came out of uh Iraq orDesert Storm, are you
(11:10):
automatically qualified?
J Basser (11:12):
Yeah, automatically.
Guest (11:13):
Okay.
J Basser (11:13):
I knew it was on and Korea World War II.
Ray Cobb (11:17):
So now, okay, so if you served in country during
that conflict, right?
And that's what then you'reentitled to be a medical.
J Basser (11:27):
Uh they read the era.
Yeah, it reads the era.
Yeah, it reads the era.
So if you're in during thattime, I don't think it matters
if you were overseas or not.
The issue is uh back in theVietnam era and things like
that, you know, you they I guessthey did more emphasis on
combat and things like that inany country.
But as far as the era itself,you can get in and see the VA.
(11:50):
Uh a lot of peacetime vetscannot.
Ray Cobb (11:54):
A peacetime vet they have to qualify from a hardship
standpoint.
J Basser (12:00):
And uh hardship or such neck disability.
Guest (12:03):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (12:04):
So you get in, you sit down to the guy and talk to
you.
J Basser (12:07):
Even at zero.
Ray Cobb (12:08):
And give him your DD two fourteen, and he does all
those questions and sittingthere on his computer, and
there's you qualify.
Well, the next thing and whatthey do here, I'm gonna assume
around the country, itimmediately assigns you to a
primary care.
In our case, uh we have aclinic near us here at Our Air
(12:33):
Force Base, and if there is roomthere, we got a good doctor
there, Dr.
McDaniel, she's been there 20plus years.
Um you can actually they'llgive you her name and a
telephone number, and then youcall and schedule your
appointment.
Or you may be assigned to adoctor at the nearest medical
(12:56):
facility to you.
Um either in our case, it'seither here or it's Mercus Fox.
So if Dr.
McDaniels has no moreavailability for new patients,
then they're assigned to primarycare emergency.
And that's usually 20K, B, orC.
J Basser (13:20):
Well, if you're living in the bigger cities, if that
works, um you can go into one ofthe major hospitals.
Um it's like living in Murphy'sborough or Nashville, close to
it.
Go in the elder building officeand they'll when you get your
primary care doctor assigned toyou, then they'll try to make an
appointment before an initialvisit to your primary care
(13:42):
doctor.
You really don't have a choiceas to who they assign you, you
know, which, you know, but itgets your foot in the door.
And there's special notes youneed to know is uh when they
make that appointment with yourprimary, they usually schedule,
I don't know, 30 minutes to 45minutes because there's a lot of
stuff they got to do.
Uh, you know, it's kind of likeuh initial evaluation, I say,
(14:03):
right?
Um make sure you've goteverything written down, you
know, everything written downthat you've got wrong with you,
whatever you need help with.
Um your VA primary care doctoris your most important doctor
because the VA does nothingunless you got a referral.
So if you need to go, uh, youknow, of course, eyeglasses and
(14:28):
hairin aids are provided to allveterans.
So if you need hairin aid oreyeglasses, then your primary
care has to write the referralinto the clinics one time.
And then they take over and dothe you know subsequent
examinations over the years.
And you can go, you know,they'll write that up.
Um if you need special care,say you got heart issues, they
(14:52):
can do a referral to cardiology,they can do referrals to
endocrinology, if you gotdiabetes or anything like that.
But your primary care has todrive the truck.
And then she can point theantenna at the other place.
Okay, you need to go here.
She'll put the referral in, andthey'll call make you an
appointment from the the placethat you referred to.
Which is a good thing.
(15:13):
And a very important doctor,and it's important to get along
with them.
If they support you, you'llhave a good, you know, it'll be
good.
You had problems gettingreferrals, Ray?
Ray Cobb (15:24):
No, I really didn't, and that's another good point.
When you're in there uh gettingsigned up, if you're over the
age of 75, you need to ask, inmy opinion, and you've got some
medical problems, which I don'tknow too many people over 75
that don't, you need to ask forgeriatrics.
(15:44):
Geriattics is a special primarycare clinic for aging veterans.
And so if you fit into you'vegot to be 75 plus to get in
there.
So, like if you're 75, and likeyou said, you got diabetes, or
you got a heart condition andyou know it, uh, you've been
treated on the outside port,then you need to tell them that
(16:07):
and ask for geriatrics.
And they try to get you intothere.
Now, to me, that's the bestthing that ever happened to me
because they pay a lot closerattention.
Um and when they send you toone of those other clinics,
those other clinics respond alot quicker than trying to get
you rushed in versus uh someonewho's not in geriatrics.
(16:32):
So it's kind of like a bonusthat they have that set up that
uh they do for you.
I you know uh I have I've beenin geriatrics now two years.
And they do they contact me andsay, We notice you got this.
Uh do you need this?
Uh gotta I gotta answer anemail later after we get off the
(16:54):
show tonight.
Um they want to know a devicethat's supposed to help with my
knees and my lower back, alittle pulsing device.
They want my my firstprescription is up, and they
want to know how I'm doing andwhether or not to refill it.
Uh I understand this machine'squite expensive, over twelve
(17:16):
hundred dollars if they boughtit.
And I think if you have to useit for six months and then they
pay for it, then you get to keepit for for a long time.
But I've got to do thattonight.
That's a plus for painmanagement that you have a
little better with in geriatricsthan what I got when I was
(17:37):
under a normal primary carido.
Guest (17:43):
Okay.
J Basser (17:46):
Well, I mean, that's good.
That's really good.
I mean, it's my primaries havebeen good to me.
Uh well, let me take that back.
I've had a couple of primaries.
Uh, you know, because peoplechange, they come and go.
Uh doctors come and go.
That's you know, it's a job tothem.
And uh, you know, they can getthe VA for a couple years and
(18:06):
they decided to go into privatepractice, they go ahead and go.
Um, I've had a couple of goodprimary care doctors taking care
of them pretty well.
Uh both of them's gottendisabled and sick and had to
retire.
I had one that went to DC and Ithink she got cancer and passed
away.
Um I had one that left um kindof really didn't, I mean, they
(18:31):
were just there.
You ever seen people that arejust there and not really, you
know?
And uh so I've had one reallyI've had one or two that really
to, you know, cared about whatmy issues were, and which is
pretty cool.
And uh, you know, but they'revery important if you make a
good represent uh you have agood relationship with your
(18:52):
primary care doctor, um build upa good rapport with them.
Um they've only got a certainamount of time to see you during
four-year appointments, and um,you know, just be
straightforward with them andtell them, you know, what's
wrong with you and things likethat, you know, try to make
their job easier.
And uh if you're married, takeyour spouse with you, let them
(19:15):
go with you, let them get toknow the spouse a little bit,
especially on the caregiverprogram.
And uh let them get to know thespouse, because your spouse
basically, yeah, especially ifyour spouse, you know, if you're
a caregiver program, especiallythe paid caregiver program,
your spouse has to communicatewith your care team monthly.
Is that what it is, right?
Guest (19:35):
Well well, right.
J Basser (19:36):
And uh so that'll be one adventure.
Ray Cobb (19:38):
Yeah, quarterly, and then once a year they have to do
an in-house visit, and twice ayear you do a telephone call.
J Basser (19:48):
Okay, so yeah, that's what you gotta look at too.
But hey, your primary caredoctor opens up doors for you.
Um and you can do what you wantto do, and but just make sure
that you know your um ohimportant note uh for you that's
out there that's got claims inthe process and you would come
(20:10):
to the VA.
You got a claim in the system,say you got denied and you want
to use a VA, you always use aVA.
The regional offices, thepeople do the claims are under
what we call the VBA, theVeterans Benefits
Administration.
Your health and your hospitalsare under the VHA, the Veterans
(20:32):
Health Administration.
Okay, that's two differentvehicles.
Ray Cobb (20:38):
Okay, the two should never meet or one.
J Basser (20:43):
That's right, they should never meet or talk.
One is a truck on the leftside, and the other one's a bus
on the right side.
Okay.
If you're having problems atone, and most likely the VBA,
which most veterans are.
Okay, you gotta realize theissue you're having is with them
(21:04):
and not the VHA.
I've seen a lot of vets walkinto the VHA into the hospitals
with an attitude because of aclaim to VBA.
Okay.
And they're mad.
Well, VA did this, VA did that.
No, the VA didn't do this, andVA didn't do that.
The regional office did thisand did that.
These people here have no idea.
(21:25):
They're here to help you doyour health care.
And I've actually said a fewthings, you know, to vets about
that over the history.
I mean, you know, that's apretty long history, but we're
getting old.
So don't let anger to the VVAeffect of VHA, they're there to
(21:48):
help you.
And uh, you know, they're someof the best people in the world,
actually.
And uh I'm sure you've seen ittoo, right?
Ray Cobb (22:05):
If you have a personality conflict with the
primary care doctor, uh youdon't think they're doing their
job, you don't have to say itthat way.
But if you just write a lettersaid, I'd like to change my
primary care, it seems like wehave a personality conflict,
(22:26):
they will change your primarycare.
Um, I haven't had to do that,but I've known others that
definitely have.
And uh so that being said, youknow, know that you can do that.
It is an avenue, it's not easy,and it may take a while because
(22:46):
there may not be any openingswith some of the other primary
care.
J Basser (22:50):
But, you know, if you Yeah, do you send it you send do
you send the letter to thepatient advocate?
You send the letter to thepatient advocate that it goes
to?
Ray Cobb (22:59):
Well, what I did um what I recommended someone else
to do was to write the letterand turn it in to the primary
care doctor, because she has toapprove it.
I mean, I might the case I'mtalking about.
She had to approve it.
And then I also had the guy totake a copy of the letter down
(23:23):
to the patient advocate.
Now what that did, that meantthat that doctor had to sit down
on the phone or whatever, atleast for a few minutes with a
patient advocate and discussyour situation.
And those patient advocates arepretty good.
They can tell if that doctorhas you know, there's some
(23:45):
people that you just rub you thewrong way.
And you know, you may be theone who loves the doctor.
Guest (23:53):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (23:54):
So if you have that kind of situation, there is
there is a solution, and that'swhat it is.
That's a good point to thepatient advocate.
But what I recommended him dois first turn it in to the
primary care and waittwenty-four hours and give it to
(24:14):
the patient advocate.
For two reasons.
Uh one, it meant that thedoctor at least had the
opportunity of 24-hour noticebefore the patient advocates
called him.
And number two, it makes itclear to everybody involved that
there's a situation there.
(24:34):
And uh gives the patientadvocates a little more time to
investigate, and what you may ormay not know, this may not be
the first time that doctors hada problem.
You may have five or six oreight or ten times that people
have asked.
So you may not be the firsttime.
J Basser (24:53):
Yeah, it could be a pattern.
Guest (24:55):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (24:55):
So that that's a situation that the patient
advocate seeing that mayrecognize it and may go ahead
and and uh get that changed foryou.
And that's something you're notgoing to be able to find out.
Guest (25:13):
That's a fact.
J Basser (25:14):
That's factual, that's true.
So basically, if you don't likeyour doctor, you don't get
along with your doc, you can askto change it.
And uh you didn't you don'thave to send it, all you gotta
do is go on to your you can goon to the message center there
and you can send the messages.
You can actually upload thatletter on the computer direct
directly to your character groupand the patient advocate.
(25:36):
They can pull it right off.
Say you just the cost of thestamp, which is about the cost
of that way.
Ray Cobb (25:42):
You can actually copy them both in at the same time or
send it to both at the sametime.
J Basser (25:47):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (25:49):
That's what I do because uh you know I think it's
just good business to give thatuh that doctor uh an
opportunity to at least be awareof what's coming.
J Basser (26:06):
Well, with the cost of the stamping, yeah, with the
cost with the cost of thestamping nowadays, it'd be
cheaper to drive the letter overthere and back.
No, we update everything.
Now, okay, say you go to asecondary or you know, specialty
(26:26):
care.
Okay, you know, that's yourspecialty care physician, it's
your heart doctors, and that'syour um podiatrists and people
like that, you know.
Um that's where your carereally starts because you know
they're the ones that, okay, yougo to podiatrists and you got
diabetes and you got a footscore, you know, they give you a
(26:49):
pod risk score on your feet,and it's like two or three or
whatever, then they say, well,you need shoes.
So here's your prescriptionsfor shoes, you know.
But that's how you get yourshoes, your socks, your
compression socks, or whateveryou need.
And uh they take care of youthat way.
As far as uh other things, likeyou know, it can be services,
(27:10):
it can, you know, it don't haveto be health care.
Say, for example, you needcertain things around the house
to help you because you know youcan't hang on to nothing or you
wobble, you stumble.
They can make an appointmentwith occupational therapy and
they can read the notes andthings like that.
And they'll set you down inoccupational therapy and try to
help you as to what you know youneed.
They can give you roll doors,canes, aids to take a shower,
(27:37):
shower chairs, anything likethat to help you with.
Okay.
Um they can send you tophysical therapy, you know, if
you've got uh issues like kneesor backs or whatever, and they
help you that way, you know,schedule your session and make
you feel better, and you know,maybe get you walking around
again.
Um they can send you to umdifferent things.
(28:04):
I mean, they you know, I meanit's it's it's just it's oh wide
open.
You can they can send youprosthetics, you know, say you
needed that blood pressure cup,things like that.
Usually mine just brings one tome and gives it to me.
Um then um there's also certainways, like, for example, let's
(28:29):
say you're wheelchair bound, butsay you have mobility issues
because of it has to be becauseof the service net condition.
That's that's the bigger thing.
They can write you a note toprosthetics and they can refer
you to the hysogrant to have thestuff done to your house, like
a shower and things like that.
If you say you trip and fall alot or your diabetes or
(28:50):
whatever, then they can pay upto like sixty, nine hundred
bucks to have a showerconversion done.
They can lower your they canmake it easier, make your doors
wider and things like that inthe house, up to that amount of
money.
And uh which you know, whichall veterans qualify for as long
as you know, as long as there'scertain sex for what they need
to be done.
Or, you know, it's basically tomake you safer inside the
(29:11):
house.
I'd use it, I'm sure Ray youuse it, you use it too, haven't
you?
The histogram.
Ray Cobb (29:18):
I had them to put a roll-in shower because I was uh
I was using a walker at the timeknowing I'd be going to the
wheelchair.
And um so yeah, they they putthey came in and remodeled my
shower, they widened the door.
I had a 28-inch door, theywidened it to 32 inch, they did
(29:38):
my shower all time, and theyredid the floor, they put me in
a handicapped sink and ahandicapped tool.
J Basser (29:46):
Yep.
I thought and rails.
I put rails up on mine to helpget up.
If you need a rail, I got fourrails just.
Ray Cobb (30:02):
And I have a T-Shirt seat that lay that folds up
against the wall, and then whenI go in, I lower it down and I
can sit there in the shower.
But if someone else wants touse my shower, they don't have
to sit down, they can use itstand.
J Basser (30:26):
They look nice.
They do look nice because Ilike antique wood.
See, I mean, it's all good.
They've got a lot of goodthings like it.
As long as the system works.
I mean, yeah, with any biggovernment system, yeah, you're
gonna have some issues, you'regonna have some cracks in the
floor, you're gonna have a lotof red tape, you're gonna have
(30:49):
all kinds of things like that,and you're gonna have hoops to
jump through.
Uh, you know, if you go toWalmart and see all this stuff,
you know, you see the cracks andthe hoops and things like that.
If they're short, you know thatwe've got them all.
So as long as you navigate itand keep in contact with your
primary care team, you know, ifthey've assigned you to, you'll
be okay.
Uh let's often refer you tomental health.
(31:10):
Uh say if you've got PTSDissues, I can refer you there,
and you can be treated for thatthing, you know, that stuff.
Um which is not bad.
I mean, you know, you have toagree to the treatment and
things like that, which is, youknow, you always want to try to
keep that under control becauseyou know, mental health is a big
problem in this country rightnow.
It is a bad problem.
(31:30):
All you gotta do is watch thenews and you can say, what in
the world is going on here?
You know, I mean, it's sad.
But we're not gonna politicizethis radio show by any means, or
this podcast, or this videoshow.
So we're gonna keep on going,right.
Anyhow, they can refer you tomental health.
Uh any service that he offers.
(31:54):
Well, you know, another theycan refer you to dental if go
ahead, Ray.
Ray Cobb (32:00):
Another good part about that mental health that
that they do that I I think isis very important for a couple
of guys that I've known.
Um they had PTSD real quickthat came back from over uh
Iraq, Afghanistan, and they hadmad case of PTSD.
Now, because of their PTSDmilitary connective, and they
(32:23):
were 100%.
And I don't know if you got tobe 100 or 70 or if there's even
the number.
But they included their wife ina lot of the meetings and
training for that veteran'sPTSD.
Now there's a lot of folks thatcan do that.
You know, I mean, but but eventhough your wife doesn't isn't a
(32:45):
veteran and doesn't do that ora part of it, the fact that
she's your spouse and yourcaregiver, uh, even if you're
not in the caregiver program,she's considered your caregiver,
then they will include her infor uh a few things that may
help her deal with you and helpby doing that, that helps you.
(33:08):
So they actually have someclasses and some online clinics
and things that they do fromtime to time.
Um I've never watched any ofthem, I've never been in any of
them, but uh the fact thatthey're just putting them out
there, making them available tome is a is a positive sign.
J Basser (33:30):
Well, you they need it.
It's it's it it's a necessarysituation as far as that goes.
Um you guys, if if you'remarried and you're doing this
and you've got PTSD and you'remarried, make sure your wife is
a part of your treatment andhelp you because your wife's
gonna be the person to help you.
(33:51):
She's the one that spend themost time with you and she can
do it.
And uh, you know, you gottaappreciate what she does.
Um there's nothing better thana military wife, guys.
I mean, you know, especiallyNavy wives.
Uh, you know, Daddy Hubby getson the boat and goes gone to sea
for six months, and the wife'srunning the whole, she's she's
she does it all.
She's mommy and daddy, and youknow, she's the chef and she's
(34:14):
the you know, everything.
And uh, so there's some way topay her back, it'd be amazing.
Because uh just the sacrificesthey make is unbelievable.
You know, and uh then the vetgets out and gets buggered up
and she's taking care of themagain, so she's still
(34:35):
sacrificing, right?
Guest (34:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Ray Cobb (34:38):
You know, maybe we can get her a little I forget what
the reasoning was last Friday.
I was looking some things up.
And I looked at divorce rates,uh today's divorce rates for
people who have been marriedbetween um up to the first 25
(35:00):
years.
And I was amazed that thedivorce rate today is 51
percent.
You know, in other words, 25%of the people that get married
or within the first 25 years ofmarriage, 51% of them get a
divorce.
And then when I looked up themother, uh the divorce rate for
(35:24):
veterans who have been on activeduty in a in a war zone with
PTSD is 78%.
Guest (35:38):
That's the PTSD speaking.
Ray Cobb (35:40):
Yeah, because it's hard to do.
J Basser (35:42):
I'll tell you a true story.
Ray Cobb (35:44):
I mean, uh you and I both have something will happen,
and the the guy has a dream andyou know jumps on top of his
wife and starts hitting her orkicks her out of bed or or you
know pushes her out of bed.
Oh yeah, then uh that then comein and he falls out the other
side, and you know, it's anongoing thing.
J Basser (36:05):
It doesn't go it's a realistic nightmare.
That happens.
That does happen.
It does happen.
A guy I used to work with, Iworked for the Department of the
Army after I got a service, anduh this guy hired him about the
same time I did.
And uh he was in Germany in theArmy.
He was a sergeant, super niceguy.
I'm not gonna say any namesthough, but uh he was married to
(36:30):
live in an apartment somewherenear an army base.
I don't forget where it was at,but he decided he was gonna
come home and surprise his wife.
He'd been gone for about ayear, and uh so he snuck in one
afternoon, you know, got out andwas on his way, walked up to
his apartment, took out his keyand opened the door, and his
wife and a guy was sitting onthe couch.
(36:51):
Didn't notice the guy waswearing his clothes.
A true story.
And he asked him what was goingon, and they had some words and
a couple issues and things likethat, you know.
And the guy had moved into hisapartment, taking his place,
wearing his clothes, and drivinghis vehicle.
(37:11):
It wasn't pretty.
So uh that was one of thedivorces there, right?
Guest (37:19):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
J Basser (37:27):
You know, so it's uh of course, you know, you run
across it in all walks of life.
Anytime you put this manypeople together, you know, from
all walks, you know, something'sgotta give.
There's gonna be some, there'sgonna be a few bad eggs in the,
you know.
It's like a one potato.
If you got the a bad potato inthe bag, the whole bag's gonna
be bad.
You're gonna get rid of the onepotato, you know it.
Guest (37:46):
Yeah.
You know, burn all that much.
J Basser (37:53):
But you navigate that situation, you got your
specialty care, you got this andthis and that.
Yeah, the VA does offer dentalcare to veterans that have a
dental service connection with adental issue, like say you uh
um you said the wrong thing, anduh this big six foot ten-inch
(38:16):
bolts of bank bust in the mouthand knocks knocks half your
teeth out.
Or you have an injury, uh sayyou break your jaw or something
like that, or you know, you bustup your teeth in the weather,
there's something hits you, andthey'll have they'll take care
of that in, you know, they'lltake care of that dental.
Or if you are 100% permanent intotal disability rating, or
(38:44):
adjudicated to be unemployableunder the TDIU restraints of the
Title 38, part four, whichmeans you can be 70 uh percent
or whatever, whatever percent uhI think it's a one-surf
disability uh or accommodationdisability that that one is
individual that keeps you frombeing unemployed and they pay it
(39:06):
to 100% rates.
You can also get dental.
Uh if you're in specialprograms, you can get dental.
If you're in VRE going toschool, you can get dental and
things like that, better thanrehabilitation deployment.
And that's another referral youcan get to VRE.
Um you know, they can do that.
They can uh uh a lot of things.
(39:26):
They can set you up aneducation program, say you want
to do something different, youwant to uh be beneficial, that's
find you a position that isaccommodating to your
disabilities, you can go throughthat program and they'll either
give an education or turn youfor a job that you can do.
If you're 100% permanent totaland you try to do VRE.
Ray Cobb (39:51):
They have a job placement program apart.
J Basser (39:53):
Yeah, they have a fun job.
Yep.
And do.
And also, if you're 100% inyour permanent total, they've
got a program that's alignedwith VR and E, but it's called
independent living.
And what that does is uhthey'll come in and they'll
modify and they'll do somechecks on you and see what you
(40:14):
need uh in order to functionwell with home and the
community.
Uh you should be a lot betterthan what it is now, you know.
Um I don't think you give awayhalf million dollar greenhouse
is the more rate.
Or bass boats, you know,campers.
Bass folks are campers, yeah.
Yeah.
So they do.
(40:35):
I mean, they make your lifeindependent, you know, help you
live and things like that.
Uh they will get you a computerand things like that.
Like this call.
Ray Cobb (40:44):
Yeah, let me give you an example.
I've got two things.
One right now.
They came in, they knew that Iwas doing this show.
They knew I also had a localradio show, and I had to look a
lot of stuff off the computer.
They also, because of theirknowledge and resource, knew
that I had a vision problem uhin my left eye from diabetes and
(41:07):
have a 22,000 rating in my lefteye.
So they walked in and theylooked at my little laptop and
they looked over and they said,You need a big screen.
I said, Okay.
So they said they gave me a bigscreen monitor.
Uh then they walked uh backinto my bedroom and they said,
(41:30):
Your doctor said because of yoursleep acne, you need to sleep
with your head half tilted up.
I said, Yeah.
Said, you don't have a tiltbed.
No?
Would you like one?
Uh yeah.
So they bought me a tilt bedand mattress.
Then they walked down into myman cave and we're sitting down
(41:53):
in the in the uh, once again,this is where they had uh the
housing grant had actually builtme a vertical platform lift and
it converted my garage into alarge den.
We're sitting there and I got apicture that I made years ago
of a bald eagle on the wall.
And the lady looked at theeagle, she said, I bet you can't
(42:15):
get anywhere near making thatpicture again, can you?
I said, No.
And she said, Would a telephotolens help?
Uh yeah, it'd help a lot.
She says, uh, well pick out oneand keep it around the $2,000
range.
Well, I'm telling you guys,that was on a Tuesday.
(42:36):
I told her what I needed onThursday, and on Monday it was
delivered.
Can't beat it.
And I've used it hundreds oftimes.
So it's really allowed me tostill continue photography,
shooting elk and shootingbuffalo and things that I
wouldn't be able to really getclose enough safely, being in a
(42:59):
wheelchair, without a telephone.
So that's what they want to tryto do.
J Basser (43:03):
That's a case go camera.
Ray Cobb (43:05):
Yeah.
So, you know, that's that's oneof the things they try to do.
So V RE, you gotta work withthem, you gotta be patient.
Uh they called me one day, andmy private, this is back to our
primary care.
Uh they had contacted myprimary care about something.
I'm not sure what.
(43:25):
But in the conversation, mymedication came up, the type of
medication I was on, which onehas to be refrigerated.
And I had told them to traveland would travel a lot.
So she called me and and uhasked me about how we traveled.
I said, Well, we we freeze icepacks and then we try to stay in
(43:47):
a place that's got a freezerevery night and refreeze them
and whatever she would arefrigerator in your van help?
Well, yeah.
Well, why don't you go over toa truck stop and see if you can
find one that plugs into aregular car cigarette lighter or
whatever so that you can keepyour medication because that
(44:07):
that medication you own cost theVA a thousand dollars a week.
I said, okay.
Went over, did it, paid for it,get sent the receipt in.
It was it's it was it wasbasically less than $250, and
they reimbursed me.
But that was something thatthey found that they did without
(44:28):
me asking.
They're all they were lookingfor things to make my life more
comfortable.
And I think if you if you havea good attitude.
J Basser (44:51):
Unfortunately, mine was during COVID, and my
interview was done by phone.
And uh I didn't have quite thesuccess that Ray had during his.
But uh one good thing is Ithink you can do it again,
right, Ray?
Ray Cobb (45:07):
That's correct.
Anytime your condition changesor worsens, or you figure out
that you need something else,yes, you can go back and and and
ask for it again.
J Basser (45:19):
Um I'm gonna go back after the tilt bed and things
like that.
Ray Cobb (45:24):
They keep that file open for two years, and they're
constantly checking for you tosee how what they got you.
Is it working?
Is there anything else youneed?
J Basser (45:34):
Um I'm gonna reapply myself.
Ray Cobb (45:39):
Um I think it was I forget which one of my doctors
they put in my medical recordthat it would be helpful if I
had a lift chair.
Well, the VA does not give liftchairs.
But V R and A does.
So when she saw that in mymedical records, she said, Would
(46:04):
you like a lift chair?
Well, yeah.
So they got me a lift chairthat has a header in it.
It's got a massage, two massagetype of massages, a wave and a
pulse, and it lifts me almoststraight up so I don't have to
bend my knees or hurt my lowerback.
And it has definitely helped uhmy uh being able to get around
(46:25):
better.
I mean, I still don't getaround that great, but I'd have
to think of what it was if I hadto try to maneuver and pull
myself up out of a chair.
J Basser (46:34):
Pull yourself up.
Guest (46:35):
I I would probably be on the floor half of the time.
J Basser (46:37):
That's something else.
Well, that's my issue.
Um I get orthostatic a lot,things like that.
If I get up too fast, it's liketimber.
You know, because I mean it'suh it gets pretty heavy, the
blood pressure drops like thatand things.
So I'm gonna have toinvestigate that, Ray.
See, you're you're teaching mesomething now.
You know, and uh I'm serious.
Ray Cobb (47:00):
I mean I think that yeah, that's a very important
twenty three hundred dollars.
You know, it wasn't cheap.
You know, they they didn't theydidn't cut corners.
You know, they told me whereyou could go to look and pick
one out.
I mean I got to all right.
J Basser (47:46):
Well that's amazing.
Really good.
I mean, that's something peoplethink I mean you gotta realize
to be able to do this for you,and uh um, you know, I mean, no
nobody else will.
I mean, if you're you know,social security's not gonna do
it, you might you might have youmight have to fight and might
(48:06):
get a scooter out of them orsomething like that, you know,
or maybe a pair of diabeticshoes that might uh you know
give you one pair and tell youto hop on one foot and tell you
to hop on the next foot, youknow, for the next couple days.
And if you go to dietry and yougot foot issues, then they can
give you shoes too, two pairs ayear.
Socks.
Uh if you got vascular problemslike brackle veins or uh purple
(48:30):
vascular disease, they give youuh compression sockings, socks,
uh don't fix your feet, trimyour toenails, do whatever it
takes.
You know.
The podiatrists are prettygood, I like them.
And uh, you know, and acrossthe board, even with you know,
Ray's that's pretty good.
Ray's got a brain's got onethat's really good.
And uh, you know, he's anexcellent, excellent podiatrist.
(48:53):
I've heard nothing but raisedviews about this person.
He's got more veterans inTennessee than I know that, you
know, to get to a higher levelwith their feet, you know,
especially with diabetes.
And that's something else theycan refer you to.
You can go to diabetes clinic,you can go to nutrition, they
teach you how to cook, what toeat, and things like that.
I've been through severalclasses, um uh a lot of things
(49:17):
like that.
And uh, but you know, again,your primary care is the one
that's go ahead, Rick.
Guest (49:30):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not everyone.
J Basser (50:23):
Well, that is the vocational part, the vocational
rehab part of the RE.
Okay.
The stuff Ray and I are talkingabout with the stuff inside the
house, you know, with the bedsand things like that.
That's part of independentliving.
I want to make sure you live ascomfortable as possible because
(50:44):
you don't go out and go towork.
You know, you can't.
You know, you just build it tokeep you from doing it, and
they'll tell you that right now,that you know, well, you can't
do this, but you have to, youknow, they'll put you aside you
in independent living andthey'll do the evaluation.
And uh that's a very long phonecall or a very long visit
because they're very thorough.
That one gal was anyway.
I think we had the same person,Ray.
(51:06):
That country girl is realcountry country is corn.
You remember her?
Guest (51:17):
Yeah, so but other than that.
Yeah.
J Basser (51:25):
Well, this is a live show we're doing in uh I don't
know, man.
You off the close.
You trip and fall, you'll beyou you'll be close to
Huntsville.
You live you live close enoughwhere uh where a tree falls in
Atlanta, Alabama.
I had another buddy, he leavesto live there and uh you know
(51:48):
where Killen, Alabama is?
Just north of Florence.
Killing, Alabama.
Colleen Killen, he used to livethere.
He used to come up toLexington, Tennessee all the
time.
He liked to he was a fisherman.
He'd go up there and he'd gethis boat and stuff like that in
Lexington and they'd go out andfish.
He was a bad PTSD.
(52:09):
Well, she got that when theplane crashed on top of you on
an aircraft carrier, right?
That's what happened to him.
But uh next week is the firstshow of October.
And uh, of course, after thefirst week, Miss Fangberg will
(52:29):
be on, and uh she'll be doing uhuh I don't know really what our
topic's gonna be yet.
We'll advertise it when we getthe information together.
But she'll be going oversomething that we will be sure.
And uh, she does theregulations beds and uh
Bethany's accredited appealsagent, and she's a uh
physician's assistant.
She's owns the company Back forVets.
She's been doing it for years,so uh she has a lot of writing
(52:53):
on this.
She does a lot of you knoweducational stuff for the vets,
helps them a lot, and uh we lookforward to that show.
I mean, she's been doing thisfor a while, and you can watch
all of them on here.
Uh Ray does a radio show onTuesdays on uh WZYX.
Is that what it is?
All right, it's uh Cowan,Tennessee.
(53:16):
Uh you can go on the website.
What's the website, Ray, forthe for the for the ZYX?
Okay, you go on there.
This is Tuesday mornings.
It's at 9 a.m.
Central Time, so that's uh 10o'clock Eastern.
Um eight o'clock mountain,seven o'clock eastern, seven
(53:44):
o'clock, seven o'clockCalifornia time, right?
Guest (53:48):
Yep.
J Basser (53:50):
So he always has a good guest on the show, very you
know, well, that's you have todo that.
(55:52):
I mean, that's you know, uhthere comes a time when
everybody really needs to dothat, you know, because I mean
you want to make it easier on,you know, your you the people,
you know, that you love aspossible.
You know, the less burden youput on them, the the better off
everybody is for that situation.
I mean, face it guys, that weknow, I mean I hate to say this,
but this is only temporary.
(56:20):
Life's only temporary.
You know?
Life is only temporary, youknow, and you know, it's the
longevity parts after that, soyou know, we'll see.
Guest (56:31):
But uh a lot of good points.
Mm-hmm.
That happens.
J Basser (57:40):
I mean, mm-hmm, that we call it hit and run.
It's like a hit and run.
Uh um right now we're talkingabout meeting up in Ashton City,
Tennessee here in a coupleweeks, and maybe doing him one
of his broadcasts from therehere and uh um kind of a meeting
(58:06):
with Mr.
Cripps and uh the United Statesuh U.S.
Veterans Alliance, that's whatit is, right?
That's James's group.
And uh yeah, so uh but we'llwe'll get more of that discussed
here in here in the next weekor so.
But guys, I think that's allwe've got, Brady.
Man, we do appreciate youco-hosting.
You've been a big help.
(58:26):
Breath of fresh air, as always.
And uh okay, and I want tothank our producer today.
She's in here helping out, uhdone a very good job.
Uh I have to give her a payraise now if I can afford it.
And with that, this will bethis will be John.
(58:46):
Yeah, this will be John Stacy,aka J Basher, on behalf of Mr.
Ray Cobb, J Bashard ExposedProductions, live on YouTube
right now, but it'll be postedto YouTube soon later this
evening for the whole audienceof the world to watch it again.
They're all there.
And with that, we'll beshutting it down for now.
(59:07):
We'll see you next week, folks.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, veterans and all and
families.
I'm your host.
My name is John Stacy.
They call me Jay Basser.
I've got my superstar co-hostright beside me, Mr.
Ray Copp, in the great state ofuh either LC or Talabama,
Tanlabama or whatever it is.
And uh we are we are JayBassers Exposed Vet Productions.
(00:35):
Uh we've been doing the showfor quite a while, and we do a
lot of stuff with uh VA claimsand VA appeals and VA this, VA
that, court cases andconditions.
Today we're gonna mix it up alittle bit.
Ray and I are going to discusssomething that every veteran
needs to know, especially if youuse a VA.
Or if you're a veteran thinkingof using the VA.
(00:56):
We're gonna start off ourseries called Navigate the VA.
But we're gonna make a coupleannouncements first.
Uh Ray's got one he's gonnagive out.
Uh Ray, how you doing, bud?
Guest (01:08):
I'm doing good.
How are you doing?
J Basser (01:12):
I'm doing just fine.
We were talking there beforethe show there, and uh you were
discussing the situation with IDMe.
Could you give an audienceupdate on what they need to do?
Ray Cobb (01:23):
Yeah, come October the 1st, all veterans that are
going to use uh BA.gov needs tochange from a couple of the
others that they've had in thepast that haven't worked very
well to ID Me.
I had to make that change, oh,I guess it was uh a couple of
years ago.
And uh uh it actually it's alot better.
(01:46):
Plus, ID Me has some otherbenefits to it.
Uh for example, if you um well,go to Disney and you want a
discount on your Disney tickets,and you tell them you're a
veteran, they ask you to fillout the ID meet, and they
identify you, and it identifiesyou as a veteran, and you get
your discounts.
A lot of motel reservations areusing that.
(02:08):
Um uh you order some of thedepartment stores are using it
now to identify veterans inorder to give them their
discount.
So there's a lot of uh reasonsto use ID meet or to get on it,
but the main thing is that ifyou want to uh function and
operate and maneuver throughVA.gov, you're gonna need ID me.
J Basser (02:35):
It also works with automobile discounts.
You have to register online.
You have to register online.
Yeah, you gotta make an ID meaccount.
And uh they have to verify, andyou probably send the
information to them, you know,who you are.
And it's not hard to do, but Iwould do it.
I mean, I've done I've had minefor years.
(02:56):
Um, I've used their services awhole lot, and uh they have a
lot of good discounts.
You know, it's all over theplace, but still it's a lot of
good stuff.
Thanks for that informationwhere everybody needs to heed
this and get her done because uhyou can also use FVA.gov, you
know, log on.
And but uh he benefits theother one, the DS logon, I guess
(03:17):
is going bye-bye per se,anyway.
Ray Cobb (03:19):
Yeah, that's going it's yeah.
After October the first.
J Basser (03:30):
Good thing about October 1st, Ray, is it's the
new fiscal year.
Maybe the VO get some money andstart paying some of these
claims, you reckon?
Ray Cobb (03:37):
Well, I got an email this morning from the American
Legion that said that thebacklog of claims has been
drastically reduced.
Uh and uh 45%.
J Basser (03:55):
Pardon they said about 45% that uh something that's
Doug Collins came out with thatyesterday too, talking about it.
The Secretary of the VA.
Uh they talked about theproduct.
Ray Cobb (04:09):
What we don't know though is how many of those were
actually what percentage ofthose were denied because they
didn't spend enough timeresearching you know, or they
didn't uh the bank themselvesdid not have the proper
documentation turned in.
(04:30):
So that that's that's what I onthe wh whenever they start
dwindling those numbers downquickly, the easiest way to
dwindle those numbers down is bydenial.
Um it's easier and less worsethan if they approved.
(04:50):
So uh be interested to know atthe 40 percent, 45 percent
reduction, what percentage ofthose were denied and what
percentage were granted?
J Basser (05:06):
Well, you can really tell that we asked the question
ourselves because in the groupswe're doing, we the agents group
and the VSO groups, theynoticed a very strong uptick in
the number of appeals, thenumber of denials that were just
totally bogus.
So what they're doing isthey're overloading the DROs,
(05:29):
the appeals process for theself-mill is getting full, and
the BDA is probably gettingracked pretty hard right now.
And so basically it's robbingPeter to PayPal.
And uh so they can say 45% allthey want, but we asked the
question is during the same timeperiod that the appeal's been
(05:51):
reduced to 45% of the backlog,what is the actual appeal
percentage to the appeals versusthe claims backlog?
And I'm pretty sure it's gonnabe even teeter-totter, you know
what I mean?
Guest (06:05):
Yeah.
J Basser (06:05):
It's like ride the teeter totter.
The claims on a teeter totter,the pills up in the air, the
appeal's down a teeter-totter,the claims up in the air.
So it's just and if you've gota lot of fat claims on the
teeter-totter, the pills ain'tgetting off.
Until the fat claims get off.
So another thing you've got toremember is that.
Ray Cobb (06:20):
But now we're at that point in in the year when when
VA has gone to Congress to askfor more money to do stuff.
And of course, the first thingCongress said is show us what
you've done with the money wegave you last year.
And so now they can come outand say, oh, well, we attached
these backlogs and this backstuff, and we've done this and
(06:40):
we've done that, and it looksgood, but there's no proof of
how much it's improved toveterans.
Um, and that's a good way tobalance the budget.
Uh, you know, nothing looksworse than to go over the
budget.
Um, they'd rather be just alittle few dollars short than to
(07:02):
go over it.
And uh, gosh, I can rememberwhen I was in the government,
uh, they came to me in uh Ithink it was August or September
and told me to order all thefilm that I could order for X
amount of dollars because theyneed to spend that dollars
between then and and then uhSeptember when they went to get
(07:23):
the final amount for what to runthe photo lab that I was in
charge of uh come October.
I bought I bought almost ayear's supply of film there in
in one month.
We've got everything.
Film, slides, everything, blackand white, all of it.
Uh because we had the money inthe budget, we had to spend it,
(07:46):
but they wanted us to spend itbefore the fiscal year was up.
J Basser (07:51):
That's true.
I mean, I remember back in theold days in the Navy with the
ship was out to sea and it'slast September and had to get on
the one MC and everything youdon't need throw it overboard.
We're getting new stuff and wepull in.
Guest (08:06):
Yeah.
I heard that.
J Basser (08:13):
Well, let's navigate the VA.
Um I start off by internallyinside the VA.
Um we do it this way.
Uh I'll call myself Billy Bobor Pedro.
I'm Billy Bob.
Billy Bob is a veteran.
And uh I get out of service anduh I don't have any health
(08:36):
insurance after I get out, youknow.
If I don't work a temporaryjob, I get going.
So I need health insurance.
I need something something todo.
So what do you do?
You know you're gonna use theVA.
So you go in the VA and what doyou do?
Well, first thing you do is youmake sure you got your DD 214
with you and show your dischargebecause they're gonna look at
(08:58):
your character discharge.
You take out 214 over toeligibility in the eligibility
office is I'm gonna go toeligibility and they'll put you
in, show you where to go.
They'll take you in the room,sit down, talk to you a minute,
look at you, and look at yourpaperwork, see what group you
fit in, where you at, whatco-pays you gotta pay, and
things like that.
And then they'll enroll you inthe system.
(09:22):
You can do it online too, butit's better to walk in and do
it.
Um you need to get enrolled inthe system first.
Uh last week I enrolled aKorean veteran.
He's 90 years old.
And he's had a 10% disabilityever since he got out back in
(09:46):
the 50s.
Actually, it's 20%, I'm sorry.
He never used a VA.
But um his life has changed.
He was an educator, he was evena flex director of a major
college.
And he had his spouse passaway, and his doctors are
(10:07):
passing away because he's 90years old.
And he needs some things to dowith his ears and his eyes, and
just you know, his hell.
So we'll enroll him in the VA.
And uh it's gonna take him alot of money in the long run.
So he's happy about it.
We had to send his off, though,because it's some kind of
extraordinary circumstance, theytold me.
And uh, but when we get back,we'll get him in there and get
(10:28):
him signed up, you know, get himin and get him a carry.
He lives way out in the middleof nowhere, so he, you know, his
VA is gonna be probably a CBOclinic or something.
And uh it's pretty cool.
But always register and enrollin the VA health care.
What's the next thing you do,Ray?
Do they give you a primary careor what do they do?
Ray Cobb (10:47):
Yeah, they do.
And when you enroll, uh you dohave to qualify.
Now, your friend had adisability out there when he got
out of the military, so heautomatically qualifies.
But there's a couple ofdifferent ways you have to
qualify.
Now, I do not know, I've neverasked.
If you came out of uh Iraq orDesert Storm, are you
(11:10):
automatically qualified?
J Basser (11:12):
Yeah, automatically.
Guest (11:13):
Okay.
J Basser (11:13):
I knew it was on and Korea World War II.
Ray Cobb (11:17):
So now, okay, so if you served in country during
that conflict, right?
And that's what then you'reentitled to be a medical.
J Basser (11:27):
Uh they read the era.
Yeah, it reads the era.
Yeah, it reads the era.
So if you're in during thattime, I don't think it matters
if you were overseas or not.
The issue is uh back in theVietnam era and things like
that, you know, you they I guessthey did more emphasis on
combat and things like that inany country.
But as far as the era itself,you can get in and see the VA.
(11:50):
Uh a lot of peacetime vetscannot.
Ray Cobb (11:54):
A peacetime vet they have to qualify from a hardship
standpoint.
J Basser (12:00):
And uh hardship or such neck disability.
Guest (12:03):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (12:04):
So you get in, you sit down to the guy and talk to
you.
J Basser (12:07):
Even at zero.
Ray Cobb (12:08):
And give him your DD two fourteen, and he does all
those questions and sittingthere on his computer, and
there's you qualify.
Well, the next thing and whatthey do here, I'm gonna assume
around the country, itimmediately assigns you to a
primary care.
In our case, uh we have aclinic near us here at Our Air
(12:33):
Force Base, and if there is roomthere, we got a good doctor
there, Dr.
McDaniel, she's been there 20plus years.
Um you can actually they'llgive you her name and a
telephone number, and then youcall and schedule your
appointment.
Or you may be assigned to adoctor at the nearest medical
(12:56):
facility to you.
Um either in our case, it'seither here or it's Mercus Fox.
So if Dr.
McDaniels has no moreavailability for new patients,
then they're assigned to primarycare emergency.
And that's usually 20K, B, orC.
J Basser (13:20):
Well, if you're living in the bigger cities, if that
works, um you can go into one ofthe major hospitals.
Um it's like living in Murphy'sborough or Nashville, close to
it.
Go in the elder building officeand they'll when you get your
primary care doctor assigned toyou, then they'll try to make an
appointment before an initialvisit to your primary care
(13:42):
doctor.
You really don't have a choiceas to who they assign you, you
know, which, you know, but itgets your foot in the door.
And there's special notes youneed to know is uh when they
make that appointment with yourprimary, they usually schedule,
I don't know, 30 minutes to 45minutes because there's a lot of
stuff they got to do.
Uh, you know, it's kind of likeuh initial evaluation, I say,
(14:03):
right?
Um make sure you've goteverything written down, you
know, everything written downthat you've got wrong with you,
whatever you need help with.
Um your VA primary care doctoris your most important doctor
because the VA does nothingunless you got a referral.
So if you need to go, uh, youknow, of course, eyeglasses and
(14:28):
hairin aids are provided to allveterans.
So if you need hairin aid oreyeglasses, then your primary
care has to write the referralinto the clinics one time.
And then they take over and dothe you know subsequent
examinations over the years.
And you can go, you know,they'll write that up.
Um if you need special care,say you got heart issues, they
(14:52):
can do a referral to cardiology,they can do referrals to
endocrinology, if you gotdiabetes or anything like that.
But your primary care has todrive the truck.
And then she can point theantenna at the other place.
Okay, you need to go here.
She'll put the referral in, andthey'll call make you an
appointment from the the placethat you referred to.
Which is a good thing.
(15:13):
And a very important doctor,and it's important to get along
with them.
If they support you, you'llhave a good, you know, it'll be
good.
You had problems gettingreferrals, Ray?
Ray Cobb (15:24):
No, I really didn't, and that's another good point.
When you're in there uh gettingsigned up, if you're over the
age of 75, you need to ask, inmy opinion, and you've got some
medical problems, which I don'tknow too many people over 75
that don't, you need to ask forgeriatrics.
(15:44):
Geriattics is a special primarycare clinic for aging veterans.
And so if you fit into you'vegot to be 75 plus to get in
there.
So, like if you're 75, and likeyou said, you got diabetes, or
you got a heart condition andyou know it, uh, you've been
treated on the outside port,then you need to tell them that
(16:07):
and ask for geriatrics.
And they try to get you intothere.
Now, to me, that's the bestthing that ever happened to me
because they pay a lot closerattention.
Um and when they send you toone of those other clinics,
those other clinics respond alot quicker than trying to get
you rushed in versus uh someonewho's not in geriatrics.
(16:32):
So it's kind of like a bonusthat they have that set up that
uh they do for you.
I you know uh I have I've beenin geriatrics now two years.
And they do they contact me andsay, We notice you got this.
Uh do you need this?
Uh gotta I gotta answer anemail later after we get off the
(16:54):
show tonight.
Um they want to know a devicethat's supposed to help with my
knees and my lower back, alittle pulsing device.
They want my my firstprescription is up, and they
want to know how I'm doing andwhether or not to refill it.
Uh I understand this machine'squite expensive, over twelve
(17:16):
hundred dollars if they boughtit.
And I think if you have to useit for six months and then they
pay for it, then you get to keepit for for a long time.
But I've got to do thattonight.
That's a plus for painmanagement that you have a
little better with in geriatricsthan what I got when I was
(17:37):
under a normal primary carido.
Guest (17:43):
Okay.
J Basser (17:46):
Well, I mean, that's good.
That's really good.
I mean, it's my primaries havebeen good to me.
Uh well, let me take that back.
I've had a couple of primaries.
Uh, you know, because peoplechange, they come and go.
Uh doctors come and go.
That's you know, it's a job tothem.
And uh, you know, they can getthe VA for a couple years and
(18:06):
they decided to go into privatepractice, they go ahead and go.
Um, I've had a couple of goodprimary care doctors taking care
of them pretty well.
Uh both of them's gottendisabled and sick and had to
retire.
I had one that went to DC and Ithink she got cancer and passed
away.
Um I had one that left um kindof really didn't, I mean, they
(18:31):
were just there.
You ever seen people that arejust there and not really, you
know?
And uh so I've had one reallyI've had one or two that really
to, you know, cared about whatmy issues were, and which is
pretty cool.
And uh, you know, but they'revery important if you make a
good represent uh you have agood relationship with your
(18:52):
primary care doctor, um build upa good rapport with them.
Um they've only got a certainamount of time to see you during
four-year appointments, and um,you know, just be
straightforward with them andtell them, you know, what's
wrong with you and things likethat, you know, try to make
their job easier.
And uh if you're married, takeyour spouse with you, let them
(19:15):
go with you, let them get toknow the spouse a little bit,
especially on the caregiverprogram.
And uh let them get to know thespouse, because your spouse
basically, yeah, especially ifyour spouse, you know, if you're
a caregiver program, especiallythe paid caregiver program,
your spouse has to communicatewith your care team monthly.
Is that what it is, right?
Guest (19:35):
Well well, right.
J Basser (19:36):
And uh so that'll be one adventure.
Ray Cobb (19:38):
Yeah, quarterly, and then once a year they have to do
an in-house visit, and twice ayear you do a telephone call.
J Basser (19:48):
Okay, so yeah, that's what you gotta look at too.
But hey, your primary caredoctor opens up doors for you.
Um and you can do what you wantto do, and but just make sure
that you know your um ohimportant note uh for you that's
out there that's got claims inthe process and you would come
(20:10):
to the VA.
You got a claim in the system,say you got denied and you want
to use a VA, you always use aVA.
The regional offices, thepeople do the claims are under
what we call the VBA, theVeterans Benefits
Administration.
Your health and your hospitalsare under the VHA, the Veterans
(20:32):
Health Administration.
Okay, that's two differentvehicles.
Ray Cobb (20:38):
Okay, the two should never meet or one.
J Basser (20:43):
That's right, they should never meet or talk.
One is a truck on the leftside, and the other one's a bus
on the right side.
Okay.
If you're having problems atone, and most likely the VBA,
which most veterans are.
Okay, you gotta realize theissue you're having is with them
(21:04):
and not the VHA.
I've seen a lot of vets walkinto the VHA into the hospitals
with an attitude because of aclaim to VBA.
Okay.
And they're mad.
Well, VA did this, VA did that.
No, the VA didn't do this, andVA didn't do that.
The regional office did thisand did that.
These people here have no idea.
(21:25):
They're here to help you doyour health care.
And I've actually said a fewthings, you know, to vets about
that over the history.
I mean, you know, that's apretty long history, but we're
getting old.
So don't let anger to the VVAeffect of VHA, they're there to
(21:48):
help you.
And uh, you know, they're someof the best people in the world,
actually.
And uh I'm sure you've seen ittoo, right?
Ray Cobb (22:05):
If you have a personality conflict with the
primary care doctor, uh youdon't think they're doing their
job, you don't have to say itthat way.
But if you just write a lettersaid, I'd like to change my
primary care, it seems like wehave a personality conflict,
(22:26):
they will change your primarycare.
Um, I haven't had to do that,but I've known others that
definitely have.
And uh so that being said, youknow, know that you can do that.
It is an avenue, it's not easy,and it may take a while because
(22:46):
there may not be any openingswith some of the other primary
care.
J Basser (22:50):
But, you know, if you Yeah, do you send it you send do
you send the letter to thepatient advocate?
You send the letter to thepatient advocate that it goes
to?
Ray Cobb (22:59):
Well, what I did um what I recommended someone else
to do was to write the letterand turn it in to the primary
care doctor, because she has toapprove it.
I mean, I might the case I'mtalking about.
She had to approve it.
And then I also had the guy totake a copy of the letter down
(23:23):
to the patient advocate.
Now what that did, that meantthat that doctor had to sit down
on the phone or whatever, atleast for a few minutes with a
patient advocate and discussyour situation.
And those patient advocates arepretty good.
They can tell if that doctorhas you know, there's some
(23:45):
people that you just rub you thewrong way.
And you know, you may be theone who loves the doctor.
Guest (23:53):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (23:54):
So if you have that kind of situation, there is
there is a solution, and that'swhat it is.
That's a good point to thepatient advocate.
But what I recommended him dois first turn it in to the
primary care and waittwenty-four hours and give it to
(24:14):
the patient advocate.
For two reasons.
Uh one, it meant that thedoctor at least had the
opportunity of 24-hour noticebefore the patient advocates
called him.
And number two, it makes itclear to everybody involved that
there's a situation there.
(24:34):
And uh gives the patientadvocates a little more time to
investigate, and what you may ormay not know, this may not be
the first time that doctors hada problem.
You may have five or six oreight or ten times that people
have asked.
So you may not be the firsttime.
J Basser (24:53):
Yeah, it could be a pattern.
Guest (24:55):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (24:55):
So that that's a situation that the patient
advocate seeing that mayrecognize it and may go ahead
and and uh get that changed foryou.
And that's something you're notgoing to be able to find out.
Guest (25:13):
That's a fact.
J Basser (25:14):
That's factual, that's true.
So basically, if you don't likeyour doctor, you don't get
along with your doc, you can askto change it.
And uh you didn't you don'thave to send it, all you gotta
do is go on to your you can goon to the message center there
and you can send the messages.
You can actually upload thatletter on the computer direct
directly to your character groupand the patient advocate.
(25:36):
They can pull it right off.
Say you just the cost of thestamp, which is about the cost
of that way.
Ray Cobb (25:42):
You can actually copy them both in at the same time or
send it to both at the sametime.
J Basser (25:47):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (25:49):
That's what I do because uh you know I think it's
just good business to give thatuh that doctor uh an
opportunity to at least be awareof what's coming.
J Basser (26:06):
Well, with the cost of the stamping, yeah, with the
cost with the cost of thestamping nowadays, it'd be
cheaper to drive the letter overthere and back.
No, we update everything.
Now, okay, say you go to asecondary or you know, specialty
(26:26):
care.
Okay, you know, that's yourspecialty care physician, it's
your heart doctors, and that'syour um podiatrists and people
like that, you know.
Um that's where your carereally starts because you know
they're the ones that, okay, yougo to podiatrists and you got
diabetes and you got a footscore, you know, they give you a
(26:49):
pod risk score on your feet,and it's like two or three or
whatever, then they say, well,you need shoes.
So here's your prescriptionsfor shoes, you know.
But that's how you get yourshoes, your socks, your
compression socks, or whateveryou need.
And uh they take care of youthat way.
As far as uh other things, likeyou know, it can be services,
(27:10):
it can, you know, it don't haveto be health care.
Say, for example, you needcertain things around the house
to help you because you know youcan't hang on to nothing or you
wobble, you stumble.
They can make an appointmentwith occupational therapy and
they can read the notes andthings like that.
And they'll set you down inoccupational therapy and try to
help you as to what you know youneed.
They can give you roll doors,canes, aids to take a shower,
(27:37):
shower chairs, anything likethat to help you with.
Okay.
Um they can send you tophysical therapy, you know, if
you've got uh issues like kneesor backs or whatever, and they
help you that way, you know,schedule your session and make
you feel better, and you know,maybe get you walking around
again.
Um they can send you to umdifferent things.
(28:04):
I mean, they you know, I meanit's it's it's just it's oh wide
open.
You can they can send youprosthetics, you know, say you
needed that blood pressure cup,things like that.
Usually mine just brings one tome and gives it to me.
Um then um there's also certainways, like, for example, let's
(28:29):
say you're wheelchair bound, butsay you have mobility issues
because of it has to be becauseof the service net condition.
That's that's the bigger thing.
They can write you a note toprosthetics and they can refer
you to the hysogrant to have thestuff done to your house, like
a shower and things like that.
If you say you trip and fall alot or your diabetes or
(28:50):
whatever, then they can pay upto like sixty, nine hundred
bucks to have a showerconversion done.
They can lower your they canmake it easier, make your doors
wider and things like that inthe house, up to that amount of
money.
And uh which you know, whichall veterans qualify for as long
as you know, as long as there'scertain sex for what they need
to be done.
Or, you know, it's basically tomake you safer inside the
(29:11):
house.
I'd use it, I'm sure Ray youuse it, you use it too, haven't
you?
The histogram.
Ray Cobb (29:18):
I had them to put a roll-in shower because I was uh
I was using a walker at the timeknowing I'd be going to the
wheelchair.
And um so yeah, they they putthey came in and remodeled my
shower, they widened the door.
I had a 28-inch door, theywidened it to 32 inch, they did
(29:38):
my shower all time, and theyredid the floor, they put me in
a handicapped sink and ahandicapped tool.
J Basser (29:46):
Yep.
I thought and rails.
I put rails up on mine to helpget up.
If you need a rail, I got fourrails just.
Ray Cobb (30:02):
And I have a T-Shirt seat that lay that folds up
against the wall, and then whenI go in, I lower it down and I
can sit there in the shower.
But if someone else wants touse my shower, they don't have
to sit down, they can use itstand.
J Basser (30:26):
They look nice.
They do look nice because Ilike antique wood.
See, I mean, it's all good.
They've got a lot of goodthings like it.
As long as the system works.
I mean, yeah, with any biggovernment system, yeah, you're
gonna have some issues, you'regonna have some cracks in the
floor, you're gonna have a lotof red tape, you're gonna have
(30:49):
all kinds of things like that,and you're gonna have hoops to
jump through.
Uh, you know, if you go toWalmart and see all this stuff,
you know, you see the cracks andthe hoops and things like that.
If they're short, you know thatwe've got them all.
So as long as you navigate itand keep in contact with your
primary care team, you know, ifthey've assigned you to, you'll
be okay.
Uh let's often refer you tomental health.
(31:10):
Uh say if you've got PTSDissues, I can refer you there,
and you can be treated for thatthing, you know, that stuff.
Um which is not bad.
I mean, you know, you have toagree to the treatment and
things like that, which is, youknow, you always want to try to
keep that under control becauseyou know, mental health is a big
problem in this country rightnow.
It is a bad problem.
(31:30):
All you gotta do is watch thenews and you can say, what in
the world is going on here?
You know, I mean, it's sad.
But we're not gonna politicizethis radio show by any means, or
this podcast, or this videoshow.
So we're gonna keep on going,right.
Anyhow, they can refer you tomental health.
Uh any service that he offers.
(31:54):
Well, you know, another theycan refer you to dental if go
ahead, Ray.
Ray Cobb (32:00):
Another good part about that mental health that
that they do that I I think isis very important for a couple
of guys that I've known.
Um they had PTSD real quickthat came back from over uh
Iraq, Afghanistan, and they hadmad case of PTSD.
Now, because of their PTSDmilitary connective, and they
(32:23):
were 100%.
And I don't know if you got tobe 100 or 70 or if there's even
the number.
But they included their wife ina lot of the meetings and
training for that veteran'sPTSD.
Now there's a lot of folks thatcan do that.
You know, I mean, but but eventhough your wife doesn't isn't a
(32:45):
veteran and doesn't do that ora part of it, the fact that
she's your spouse and yourcaregiver, uh, even if you're
not in the caregiver program,she's considered your caregiver,
then they will include her infor uh a few things that may
help her deal with you and helpby doing that, that helps you.
(33:08):
So they actually have someclasses and some online clinics
and things that they do fromtime to time.
Um I've never watched any ofthem, I've never been in any of
them, but uh the fact thatthey're just putting them out
there, making them available tome is a is a positive sign.
J Basser (33:30):
Well, you they need it.
It's it's it it's a necessarysituation as far as that goes.
Um you guys, if if you'remarried and you're doing this
and you've got PTSD and you'remarried, make sure your wife is
a part of your treatment andhelp you because your wife's
gonna be the person to help you.
(33:51):
She's the one that spend themost time with you and she can
do it.
And uh, you know, you gottaappreciate what she does.
Um there's nothing better thana military wife, guys.
I mean, you know, especiallyNavy wives.
Uh, you know, Daddy Hubby getson the boat and goes gone to sea
for six months, and the wife'srunning the whole, she's she's
she does it all.
She's mommy and daddy, and youknow, she's the chef and she's
(34:14):
the you know, everything.
And uh, so there's some way topay her back, it'd be amazing.
Because uh just the sacrificesthey make is unbelievable.
You know, and uh then the vetgets out and gets buggered up
and she's taking care of themagain, so she's still
(34:35):
sacrificing, right?
Guest (34:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Ray Cobb (34:38):
You know, maybe we can get her a little I forget what
the reasoning was last Friday.
I was looking some things up.
And I looked at divorce rates,uh today's divorce rates for
people who have been marriedbetween um up to the first 25
(35:00):
years.
And I was amazed that thedivorce rate today is 51
percent.
You know, in other words, 25%of the people that get married
or within the first 25 years ofmarriage, 51% of them get a
divorce.
And then when I looked up themother, uh the divorce rate for
(35:24):
veterans who have been on activeduty in a in a war zone with
PTSD is 78%.
Guest (35:38):
That's the PTSD speaking.
Ray Cobb (35:40):
Yeah, because it's hard to do.
J Basser (35:42):
I'll tell you a true story.
Ray Cobb (35:44):
I mean, uh you and I both have something will happen,
and the the guy has a dream andyou know jumps on top of his
wife and starts hitting her orkicks her out of bed or or you
know pushes her out of bed.
Oh yeah, then uh that then comein and he falls out the other
side, and you know, it's anongoing thing.
J Basser (36:05):
It doesn't go it's a realistic nightmare.
That happens.
That does happen.
It does happen.
A guy I used to work with, Iworked for the Department of the
Army after I got a service, anduh this guy hired him about the
same time I did.
And uh he was in Germany in theArmy.
He was a sergeant, super niceguy.
I'm not gonna say any namesthough, but uh he was married to
(36:30):
live in an apartment somewherenear an army base.
I don't forget where it was at,but he decided he was gonna
come home and surprise his wife.
He'd been gone for about ayear, and uh so he snuck in one
afternoon, you know, got out andwas on his way, walked up to
his apartment, took out his keyand opened the door, and his
wife and a guy was sitting onthe couch.
(36:51):
Didn't notice the guy waswearing his clothes.
A true story.
And he asked him what was goingon, and they had some words and
a couple issues and things likethat, you know.
And the guy had moved into hisapartment, taking his place,
wearing his clothes, and drivinghis vehicle.
(37:11):
It wasn't pretty.
So uh that was one of thedivorces there, right?
Guest (37:19):
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
J Basser (37:27):
You know, so it's uh of course, you know, you run
across it in all walks of life.
Anytime you put this manypeople together, you know, from
all walks, you know, something'sgotta give.
There's gonna be some, there'sgonna be a few bad eggs in the,
you know.
It's like a one potato.
If you got the a bad potato inthe bag, the whole bag's gonna
be bad.
You're gonna get rid of the onepotato, you know it.
Guest (37:46):
Yeah.
You know, burn all that much.
J Basser (37:53):
But you navigate that situation, you got your
specialty care, you got this andthis and that.
Yeah, the VA does offer dentalcare to veterans that have a
dental service connection with adental issue, like say you uh
um you said the wrong thing, anduh this big six foot ten-inch
(38:16):
bolts of bank bust in the mouthand knocks knocks half your
teeth out.
Or you have an injury, uh sayyou break your jaw or something
like that, or you know, you bustup your teeth in the weather,
there's something hits you, andthey'll have they'll take care
of that in, you know, they'lltake care of that dental.
Or if you are 100% permanent intotal disability rating, or
(38:44):
adjudicated to be unemployableunder the TDIU restraints of the
Title 38, part four, whichmeans you can be 70 uh percent
or whatever, whatever percent uhI think it's a one-surf
disability uh or accommodationdisability that that one is
individual that keeps you frombeing unemployed and they pay it
(39:06):
to 100% rates.
You can also get dental.
Uh if you're in specialprograms, you can get dental.
If you're in VRE going toschool, you can get dental and
things like that, better thanrehabilitation deployment.
And that's another referral youcan get to VRE.
Um you know, they can do that.
They can uh uh a lot of things.
(39:26):
They can set you up aneducation program, say you want
to do something different, youwant to uh be beneficial, that's
find you a position that isaccommodating to your
disabilities, you can go throughthat program and they'll either
give an education or turn youfor a job that you can do.
If you're 100% permanent totaland you try to do VRE.
Ray Cobb (39:51):
They have a job placement program apart.
J Basser (39:53):
Yeah, they have a fun job.
Yep.
And do.
And also, if you're 100% inyour permanent total, they've
got a program that's alignedwith VR and E, but it's called
independent living.
And what that does is uhthey'll come in and they'll
modify and they'll do somechecks on you and see what you
(40:14):
need uh in order to functionwell with home and the
community.
Uh you should be a lot betterthan what it is now, you know.
Um I don't think you give awayhalf million dollar greenhouse
is the more rate.
Or bass boats, you know,campers.
Bass folks are campers, yeah.
Yeah.
So they do.
(40:35):
I mean, they make your lifeindependent, you know, help you
live and things like that.
Uh they will get you a computerand things like that.
Like this call.
Ray Cobb (40:44):
Yeah, let me give you an example.
I've got two things.
One right now.
They came in, they knew that Iwas doing this show.
They knew I also had a localradio show, and I had to look a
lot of stuff off the computer.
They also, because of theirknowledge and resource, knew
that I had a vision problem uhin my left eye from diabetes and
(41:07):
have a 22,000 rating in my lefteye.
So they walked in and theylooked at my little laptop and
they looked over and they said,You need a big screen.
I said, Okay.
So they said they gave me a bigscreen monitor.
Uh then they walked uh backinto my bedroom and they said,
(41:30):
Your doctor said because of yoursleep acne, you need to sleep
with your head half tilted up.
I said, Yeah.
Said, you don't have a tiltbed.
No?
Would you like one?
Uh yeah.
So they bought me a tilt bedand mattress.
Then they walked down into myman cave and we're sitting down
(41:53):
in the in the uh, once again,this is where they had uh the
housing grant had actually builtme a vertical platform lift and
it converted my garage into alarge den.
We're sitting there and I got apicture that I made years ago
of a bald eagle on the wall.
And the lady looked at theeagle, she said, I bet you can't
(42:15):
get anywhere near making thatpicture again, can you?
I said, No.
And she said, Would a telephotolens help?
Uh yeah, it'd help a lot.
She says, uh, well pick out oneand keep it around the $2,000
range.
Well, I'm telling you guys,that was on a Tuesday.
(42:36):
I told her what I needed onThursday, and on Monday it was
delivered.
Can't beat it.
And I've used it hundreds oftimes.
So it's really allowed me tostill continue photography,
shooting elk and shootingbuffalo and things that I
wouldn't be able to really getclose enough safely, being in a
(42:59):
wheelchair, without a telephone.
So that's what they want to tryto do.
J Basser (43:03):
That's a case go camera.
Ray Cobb (43:05):
Yeah.
So, you know, that's that's oneof the things they try to do.
So V RE, you gotta work withthem, you gotta be patient.
Uh they called me one day, andmy private, this is back to our
primary care.
Uh they had contacted myprimary care about something.
I'm not sure what.
(43:25):
But in the conversation, mymedication came up, the type of
medication I was on, which onehas to be refrigerated.
And I had told them to traveland would travel a lot.
So she called me and and uhasked me about how we traveled.
I said, Well, we we freeze icepacks and then we try to stay in
(43:47):
a place that's got a freezerevery night and refreeze them
and whatever she would arefrigerator in your van help?
Well, yeah.
Well, why don't you go over toa truck stop and see if you can
find one that plugs into aregular car cigarette lighter or
whatever so that you can keepyour medication because that
(44:07):
that medication you own cost theVA a thousand dollars a week.
I said, okay.
Went over, did it, paid for it,get sent the receipt in.
It was it's it was it wasbasically less than $250, and
they reimbursed me.
But that was something thatthey found that they did without
(44:28):
me asking.
They're all they were lookingfor things to make my life more
comfortable.
And I think if you if you havea good attitude.
J Basser (44:51):
Unfortunately, mine was during COVID, and my
interview was done by phone.
And uh I didn't have quite thesuccess that Ray had during his.
But uh one good thing is Ithink you can do it again,
right, Ray?
Ray Cobb (45:07):
That's correct.
Anytime your condition changesor worsens, or you figure out
that you need something else,yes, you can go back and and and
ask for it again.
J Basser (45:19):
Um I'm gonna go back after the tilt bed and things
like that.
Ray Cobb (45:24):
They keep that file open for two years, and they're
constantly checking for you tosee how what they got you.
Is it working?
Is there anything else youneed?
J Basser (45:34):
Um I'm gonna reapply myself.
Ray Cobb (45:39):
Um I think it was I forget which one of my doctors
they put in my medical recordthat it would be helpful if I
had a lift chair.
Well, the VA does not give liftchairs.
But V R and A does.
So when she saw that in mymedical records, she said, Would
(46:04):
you like a lift chair?
Well, yeah.
So they got me a lift chairthat has a header in it.
It's got a massage, two massagetype of massages, a wave and a
pulse, and it lifts me almoststraight up so I don't have to
bend my knees or hurt my lowerback.
And it has definitely helped uhmy uh being able to get around
(46:25):
better.
I mean, I still don't getaround that great, but I'd have
to think of what it was if I hadto try to maneuver and pull
myself up out of a chair.
J Basser (46:34):
Pull yourself up.
Guest (46:35):
I I would probably be on the floor half of the time.
J Basser (46:37):
That's something else.
Well, that's my issue.
Um I get orthostatic a lot,things like that.
If I get up too fast, it's liketimber.
You know, because I mean it'suh it gets pretty heavy, the
blood pressure drops like thatand things.
So I'm gonna have toinvestigate that, Ray.
See, you're you're teaching mesomething now.
You know, and uh I'm serious.
Ray Cobb (47:00):
I mean I think that yeah, that's a very important
twenty three hundred dollars.
You know, it wasn't cheap.
You know, they they didn't theydidn't cut corners.
You know, they told me whereyou could go to look and pick
one out.
I mean I got to all right.
J Basser (47:46):
Well that's amazing.
Really good.
I mean, that's something peoplethink I mean you gotta realize
to be able to do this for you,and uh um, you know, I mean, no
nobody else will.
I mean, if you're you know,social security's not gonna do
it, you might you might have youmight have to fight and might
(48:06):
get a scooter out of them orsomething like that, you know,
or maybe a pair of diabeticshoes that might uh you know
give you one pair and tell youto hop on one foot and tell you
to hop on the next foot, youknow, for the next couple days.
And if you go to dietry and yougot foot issues, then they can
give you shoes too, two pairs ayear.
Socks.
Uh if you got vascular problemslike brackle veins or uh purple
(48:30):
vascular disease, they give youuh compression sockings, socks,
uh don't fix your feet, trimyour toenails, do whatever it
takes.
You know.
The podiatrists are prettygood, I like them.
And uh, you know, and acrossthe board, even with you know,
Ray's that's pretty good.
Ray's got a brain's got onethat's really good.
And uh, you know, he's anexcellent, excellent podiatrist.
(48:53):
I've heard nothing but raisedviews about this person.
He's got more veterans inTennessee than I know that, you
know, to get to a higher levelwith their feet, you know,
especially with diabetes.
And that's something else theycan refer you to.
You can go to diabetes clinic,you can go to nutrition, they
teach you how to cook, what toeat, and things like that.
I've been through severalclasses, um uh a lot of things
(49:17):
like that.
And uh, but you know, again,your primary care is the one
that's go ahead, Rick.
Guest (49:30):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not everyone.
J Basser (50:23):
Well, that is the vocational part, the vocational
rehab part of the RE.
Okay.
The stuff Ray and I are talkingabout with the stuff inside the
house, you know, with the bedsand things like that.
That's part of independentliving.
I want to make sure you live ascomfortable as possible because
(50:44):
you don't go out and go towork.
You know, you can't.
You know, you just build it tokeep you from doing it, and
they'll tell you that right now,that you know, well, you can't
do this, but you have to, youknow, they'll put you aside you
in independent living andthey'll do the evaluation.
And uh that's a very long phonecall or a very long visit
because they're very thorough.
That one gal was anyway.
I think we had the same person,Ray.
(51:06):
That country girl is realcountry country is corn.
You remember her?
Guest (51:17):
Yeah, so but other than that.
Yeah.
J Basser (51:25):
Well, this is a live show we're doing in uh I don't
know, man.
You off the close.
You trip and fall, you'll beyou you'll be close to
Huntsville.
You live you live close enoughwhere uh where a tree falls in
Atlanta, Alabama.
I had another buddy, he leavesto live there and uh you know
(51:48):
where Killen, Alabama is?
Just north of Florence.
Killing, Alabama.
Colleen Killen, he used to livethere.
He used to come up toLexington, Tennessee all the
time.
He liked to he was a fisherman.
He'd go up there and he'd gethis boat and stuff like that in
Lexington and they'd go out andfish.
He was a bad PTSD.
(52:09):
Well, she got that when theplane crashed on top of you on
an aircraft carrier, right?
That's what happened to him.
But uh next week is the firstshow of October.
And uh, of course, after thefirst week, Miss Fangberg will
(52:29):
be on, and uh she'll be doing uhuh I don't know really what our
topic's gonna be yet.
We'll advertise it when we getthe information together.
But she'll be going oversomething that we will be sure.
And uh, she does theregulations beds and uh
Bethany's accredited appealsagent, and she's a uh
physician's assistant.
She's owns the company Back forVets.
She's been doing it for years,so uh she has a lot of writing
(52:53):
on this.
She does a lot of you knoweducational stuff for the vets,
helps them a lot, and uh we lookforward to that show.
I mean, she's been doing thisfor a while, and you can watch
all of them on here.
Uh Ray does a radio show onTuesdays on uh WZYX.
Is that what it is?
All right, it's uh Cowan,Tennessee.
(53:16):
Uh you can go on the website.
What's the website, Ray, forthe for the for the ZYX?
Okay, you go on there.
This is Tuesday mornings.
It's at 9 a.m.
Central Time, so that's uh 10o'clock Eastern.
Um eight o'clock mountain,seven o'clock eastern, seven
(53:44):
o'clock, seven o'clockCalifornia time, right?
Guest (53:48):
Yep.
J Basser (53:50):
So he always has a good guest on the show, very you
know, well, that's you have todo that.
(55:52):
I mean, that's you know, uhthere comes a time when
everybody really needs to dothat, you know, because I mean
you want to make it easier on,you know, your you the people,
you know, that you love aspossible.
You know, the less burden youput on them, the the better off
everybody is for that situation.
I mean, face it guys, that weknow, I mean I hate to say this,
but this is only temporary.
(56:20):
Life's only temporary.
You know?
Life is only temporary, youknow, and you know, it's the
longevity parts after that, soyou know, we'll see.
Guest (56:31):
But uh a lot of good points.
Mm-hmm.
That happens.
J Basser (57:40):
I mean, mm-hmm, that we call it hit and run.
It's like a hit and run.
Uh um right now we're talkingabout meeting up in Ashton City,
Tennessee here in a coupleweeks, and maybe doing him one
of his broadcasts from therehere and uh um kind of a meeting
(58:06):
with Mr.
Cripps and uh the United Statesuh U.S.
Veterans Alliance, that's whatit is, right?
That's James's group.
And uh yeah, so uh but we'llwe'll get more of that discussed
here in here in the next weekor so.
But guys, I think that's allwe've got, Brady.
Man, we do appreciate youco-hosting.
You've been a big help.
(58:26):
Breath of fresh air, as always.
And uh okay, and I want tothank our producer today.
She's in here helping out, uhdone a very good job.
Uh I have to give her a payraise now if I can afford it.
And with that, this will bethis will be John.
(58:46):
Yeah, this will be John Stacy,aka J Basher, on behalf of Mr.
Ray Cobb, J Bashard ExposedProductions, live on YouTube
right now, but it'll be postedto YouTube soon later this
evening for the whole audienceof the world to watch it again.
They're all there.
And with that, we'll beshutting it down for now.
(59:07):
We'll see you next week, folks.
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