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Pay your VA copay bill

You need to pay your full VA copay bill balance by the due date on your billing statement to avoid late charges, interest, or collection actions. Find out how to make a payment—and what to do if you're having trouble making payments or you disagree with your bill.

How do I pay my VA copay bill?

You can pay your bill in any of these 4 ways:

Online

Pay directly from your bank account or by debit or credit card on the secure Pay.gov website.

By phone

Call us at 888-827-4817. Be sure to have your account number ready.

By mail

Send your payment stub, along with a check or money order made payable to "VA," to the address below. Be sure to include your account number on the check or money order. 

Department of Veterans Affairs 
PO Box 3978 
Portland, OR 97208-3978

In person

Visit your nearest VA medical center, and ask for the agent cashier's office. Bring your payment stub, along with a check or money order made payable to “VA.” Be sure to include your account number on the check or money order.

Find your nearest VA medical center

Note: We can deposit your check through either a one-time electronic funds transfer or as a check transaction. If we make an electronic funds transfer, your bank may withdraw the funds from your account on the same day as we process your payment and you won't receive your check back from your bank.

If you need help understanding your patient statement

Find your nearest VA health facility

 

What happens if I don't pay my bill?

First, you should know that we won't withhold any treatment or medication from you because you can't pay your copays. But we're required by law to collect all copay debts for VA health care services.

You have 30 days from the time you receive a copay billing statement from us to pay the full amount, dispute the charges, or request financial hardship assistance (like a repayment plan or debt relief) before we'll begin to add late charges and interest.

Learn how to dispute your copay charges

Learn how to request financial hardship assistance

Find out what happens if you don't take one of these actions within:

  • After 30 days, we're required to add late charges to your bill.

    This includes interest (starting from the date the charges first appeared on your statement) plus a monthly administration or collection fee, at rates we set each year. These charges will continue to grow over time until you pay your full balance or set up an approved repayment plan. 

    Note: If you set up a repayment plan and don't pay your installments on time, we'll continue adding the monthly administrative or collection fee until you pay off your balance. We may add other costs if we need to take further collection action.

  • After 90 days, we may take action to collect your copay debt.

    This may include offsetting other VA benefits you may receive, meaning that we would reduce or withhold part of your VA benefits (like disability compensation, GI Bill payments, or Veterans pension payments) to pay your copay debt.

    We may also notify credit reporting agencies, which may cause your credit score to decrease. 

  • After 120 days, we're required by law to transfer your debt to the U.S. Treasury. At this point, we can't help you with managing your copay debt.

    The U.S. Treasury will add more fees and interest to your copay debt. They may also:

    • Offset any federal and state payments you're entitled to. This means they may reduce or withhold part of your tax refunds, Social Security benefits, or any federal or state salary or retirement benefits to pay your debt.
    • Refer your account to a private collection agency, which will add more fees and interest to your debt.
    • Garnish your wages from a non-federal job. This means they may take part of your wages to pay your debt.

    Visit the Treasury Offset Program website to learn more

For more information, watch our Veteran copayments video (YouTube)

 

What should I do if I receive a bill from my approved non-VA community provider?

You most likely received the bill because your provider tried to send it to us, but they didn’t receive payment. Contact your VA health facility and ask the staff to work with your community provider to resolve payment.

Get contact information for your VA health facility

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