Changes to the Priority Group 8 Enrollment Restriction
In 2003, VA made the difficult decision to stop enrolling new Priority Group 8 (high income) Veterans in order to assure all Veterans are provided timely and quality medical care. New regulations have been proposed that would allow certain Priority Group 8 Veterans to be enrolled in the VA health care system if their household income does not exceed the current VA income thresholds (means test threshold and/or geographical means test threshold) by more than 10%. We anticipate the new regulations to take effect in June 2009.
If you have applied for enrollment on or after January 1, 2009 and you were denied enrollment because your income exceeded the VA income threshold, VA will determine if you are eligible under this new rule, once the new regulations take effect. You will not need to submit another application for enrollment. If you are eligible under this new rule, we will notify you by mail. You will receive a letter from the VA Health Eligibility Center notifying you of your eligibility for enrollment and welcoming you to the VA health care system. Included with the letter will be instructions for getting care and how to obtain a Veterans Identification Card.
If you applied for enrollment before January 1, 2009, and were denied enrollment because your income was too high, VA encourages you to take advantage of this enrollment calculator to assist you in determining if you are now eligible for enrollment under this new regulation. Whatever your enrollment determination, VA encourages all Veterans to apply for enrollment as this will help us in our future planning and budget efforts as well as allow us to be in a better position to identify necessary funding levels to Congress.
To determine if you may be eligible under this new regulation, we have developed this enrollment calculator which will help you in determining if your income falls within the new 10% income threshold guidelines. Once you have entered all required information below, this calculator will determine if you may be eligible for enrollment under the new rule.
The proposed changes (defined in Public Law 110-329) provide VA additional funding to allow expanded enrollment opportunity for certain Priority 8 veterans who may have been previously denied enrollment in VA’s health care system because their income exceeded VA’s means tests thresholds.
On the effective date of the regulation, a veteran who applies for enrollment, who does not qualify for a higher priority group and whose income exceeds VA’s means test thresholds by 10% or less will be placed in a priority group that allows the veteran to be enrolled in VA’s health care system.
Other References:
Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents
VA National Means Test Income Threshold |
GMT Income Threshold
Viewers, Plug-Ins, & Readers |
VA Health Care Eligibility & Enrollment Site Map
For questions about Health Care Eligibility, please visit the VA inquiry website.
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