Veterans clinic about quality of life for 13,000 local vets

The closest veteran outpatient clinic for the 3,108 eligible Dubois County veterans is located in Evansville and New Albany, both over an hour’s drive away.

The closest veteran’s hospital is in Louisville or Indianapolis.

Two local veterans are pushing for the Veterans Administration to open a Community-Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) for veterans in Dubois County to bring health care closer to the 12,933 veterans in this and the surrounding counties.

[quote style=”boxed” float=”default”]Number of Veterans: Dubois Co = 3,108; Daviess Co = 2,310; Martin Co = 1,049; Orange Co = 1,725; Crawford Co = 949; Perry Co = 1,887; Spencer Co = 1,905 (Source – VA Statistics, January 2013)[/quote]

Robert Johnson (retired U.S. Navy), Dubois County’s veterans service officer, and Dave Englert (retired U.S. Marine Corps), chief of staff of the Indiana division of the Marine Corps League, are leading the charge to make it happen.

Besides the benefit for the nearly 13,000 veterans a clinic in Dubois County in regards to reducing 2-3 hours of travel time for medical care, the clinic would also assist in keeping these veterans on a lower cost health care plan provided through the VA. Tricare Prime is a managed care option through Humana offering the most affordable and comprehensive coverage available for veterans near military treatment facilities and VA clinics.

“Military retirees are eligible for Tricare Prime currently, but as of October 1st, since we are further than 40 miles away from a military treatment facility, which is your primary treatment manager, retirees no longer have the option of Tricare Prime,” Englert said.

Veterans will be forced to use Tricare Standard or Tricare extra which have considerably higher co-pays, cost shares and out of pocket expenses. “No matter how you look at it, it is more expensive for the veteran,” Englert said.

A local clinic will also increase the use of preventative health care and thus increase the quality of life for many veterans from the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and the current conflicts.

“Many veterans aren’t taking advantage of the the health care system because it is so far away,” Johnson said. “You aren’t going to drive that far for something small, a quality of life thing. That alone is worth it. The need is right here for the amount of vets we have.”

Previous attempts to open a clinic in Dubois County were met with objections based on the number of veterans in the area but that number has increased greatly over the past ten years.

As evidence of how the area could benefit from a clinic, the two presented a map to the county commissioners depicting the locations of other veterans clinics and hospitals. A large blank spot covering south central Indiana was apparent.

Ultimately, the decision to build or place a clinic in Dubois County is up to the Department of Veterans Affairs but the two are hopeful they can get this on the agenda for the VA’s 2015 planning cycle. But, to do so, they need to drum up local support to push the project forward and are calling on citizens to contact their representatives.

“If you are interested in supporting this, please contact Congressman Larry Bucshon’s office at the Jasper City Hall, Congressman Todd Young or State Rep. Mark Messmore,” Englert said.