I am conflicted also. Received good care at the VA Hospital but it was just to far away and there treatment plan was truly inconvenient and seemed like it was a medical “assembly line”. The diagnosis procedures are glacial.
The VA missed my bladder cancer and only by luck getting into the Choice program did I get a proper diagnosis from a local urologist. Just in time. Probably saved my life or certainly more drastic procedures.
Local hospital got right on it with chemo and radiation and got rid of it. I’m not so sure the VA would have been as through or compassionate. I can never prove it but I’m sure in my mind it was Agent Orange related.
I am very thankful for the Choice Program and with virtually no problem navigating the system.
I am being treated at MD Anderson for metastatic prostate cancer through the VA Choice program. I was approved within a week of applying. At the time, the Houston V.A. hospital had just two oncologists for the whole hospital.
When I was first approved, my private insurance was the primary coverage and the VA picked up the rest. Saved me $7-8,000/year for a couple of years.
Now that I’m on Medicare, it covers almost all the expenses and the VA Choice picks up the rest.