My father was in the army for 8 years and the national guard for 4. He recently found out that he has hepatitis C and liver cancer. He is afraid that his insurance will not cover the medication that the doctor wants to proscribe him. Are there any programs that provide financial assistance to veterans for prescriptions or medical care? Also he had his life insurance drop him because of the hepatitis C diagnosis he fears leaving my mother in debt after he passes. Are there any programs for life insurance?
The VA does provide prescriptions; it used to be a flat fee, but that was years ago. I don't know what the rate and arrangements are now, other than that there's a VA pharmacy at the VA where we go.
Once your father is enrolled for VA health care, his PCP will order scripts through the VA's pharmacy. Some can be picked up at the pharmacy; the process used to be that renewals would be mailed directly, from Toledo, at least for our area.
I think the first thing you'll need to do though is get your father enrolled for medical care. Your profile doesn't provide your location, so I can't help in locating the nearest VA facility. There are a few ways to go about this.
The easiest is to contact one of the service organizations such as VFW or American Legion. They help veterans complete the paperwork and process it for the veterans. It's free; it's actually illegal for someone, including some of the so-called financial groups, to charge a veteran to handle qualification paperwork.
You can also check with your county and state offices to see if they have veterans agencies or departments. These can be very helpful in processing applications as well, and in providing information on what's available.
Google "Veterans Hospitals" for your state, and Google "Veterans assistance" for your county. The easiest way would be to have a county office prepare the forms; they will tell you what you'll need, but basically it would be the DD 214, and depending on whether you decide to apply for service connected disability, there would be paperwork that one of your father's physicians would provide for the initial application. They then e-mail the forms to a participating service organization which handles the processing. Then you just wait for the VA to respond.
If you don't have any assistance offices or service organizations, call a VA outpatient facility directly and speak with the Eligibility Department for information on what you need to apply. The VA has forms online to download and complete.
Given the urgency though, I'd try to find a local governmental unit with a veterans help office or a local service organization that can handle the paperwork for you.
I'm not sure though if National Guard assistance can be obtained through the same process or if there's a separate process. That would be something to ask the local governmental veterans' assistance office, or a service organization.
As to life insurance, I'm not sure whether someone who's already left the service can apply, so I can't offer much information on that. This might provide some helpful information:
http://www.benefits.va.gov/insurance/
There's a good basic manual on what's available from the VA:
http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/benefits_book.asp. I've found it available in hard copies from local congresspeople as well as at senior centers. It will help provide an overview of what services and assistance are offered.
And, you can also get additional information here on this forum in the Veterans' Assistance Questions section:
https://www.agingcare.com/Veterans-Assistance/Questions-1
/themilitarywallet/veterans-choice-program/
themilitarywallet/va-health-care-eligibility/