BEAUMONT, Texas — A meeting held in Beaumont Thursday allowed Southeast Texas veterans to voice their concerns.
Veterans met at the American Legion Post 33 in Beaumont to ask representatives with TriWest Health Care and the Veterans Affairs Community Care Network questions about transportation and billing issues.
Veterans tell 12News they had this meeting because they are frustrated and feel like they aren't getting the care they deserve.
"We don't expect anything that we didn't already earn," said American Legion Post 33 Commander Seth Wells.
SETX Veterans 4 Veterans hosted the townhall to give healthcare providers a space to speak
"They were able to answer questions and talk to us directly which is always good," Wells said.
Director of Community Relations Glenn Gray says they met with the Southeast Texas organization at a town hall a couple months ago.
"We indicated we'd be happy to come down and talk about some of those concerns," Gray said.
SETX Veterans 4 Veterans President
This is a relationship Southeast Texas Veteran leaders Wells and Damien Bennett hope will lead to better health care.
"There's this confusion of bills being sent to TriCare which is not TriWest. There's a lot of miscommunication about TriCare which is active duty and retirement service member insurance TriWest is VA veteran insurance," said SETX Veterans 4 Veterans President, Damian Bennett.
Gray flew in all the way from Virginia for town hall.
He understand things have fallen through the cracks when it comes to providers and billing.
"It's apart of our ongoing effort if there's been turnover one we want to make sure providers have the education they need," he said.
Another constant issue is transportation
"For veterans that are solely relying on TriWest or TriCare the access to that transportation is so expensive with gas and insurance especially those that use wheel chairs," Wells said.
Wells and Bennett say getting better care for vets will take an entire army.
"That's only going to happen if we stand together as one voice we will be heard," Bennett said.
"But it's also important for us to understand for veterans to understand that you have to keep trying," Wells said.
The providers have 180 day to send in veterans' doctors bills to be paid.
Bennett says most doctors see regular patients as well as veterans which can cause things to get backed up.
On top of that, if billing mistakes happen and the 180 days ends, the doctors don't get paid and leads to them leaving the VA TriWest network.
Bennet says there is work being done to extend that timeframe to one year.
If vets are having any issues with care, they shouldn't hesitate to reach out for help.
Most American Legions or VFW's has someone that specializes in the VA system.