After you apply for health care benefits
After you’ve applied for VA health care, we’ll send you a letter in the mail to let you know if your application has been approved. Find out when to expect your letter—and what to do next.
When will you contact me about my application?
If more than a week has passed since you gave us your application and we haven’t contacted you, please don’t apply again. Call our toll-free hotline at 877-222-8387 (TTY: 711).
If you approve my application, what do I do next?
Wait for your welcome call from VA. We’ll call you to welcome you to the VA health care program, help you with scheduling your first doctor’s appointment, and answer any questions you may have about your health care benefits.
Read your Veterans Health Benefits Handbook. We’ll send this to you by mail. Your handbook will explain your specific health care benefits (based on the priority group we assigned you), how much you’ll pay in copays, and other helpful information.
Get your Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC). This is the ID card you’ll use to check in at your VA health care appointments. You can request your card online or in person at your nearest VA medical center.
Learn how to get your VHIC
Go to your first VA doctor’s appointment. You may have requested a doctor’s appointment when you applied (either in person or on your application). If you did, we’ll set up an appointment for you with a VA doctor or provider and send you a notice with your appointment time in the mail. If you didn’t ask for a doctor’s appointment when you applied, we’ll help you set up your appointment during your welcome call.
Other questions you may have
Contact your local VA medical center or clinic and ask for one of these:
- The enrollment coordinator, or
- The urgent care clinic, or
- The emergency room
If you want to know more about your VA health care benefits, your health care team, and where you’ll go for care, we can help.
Learn more about your VA health care coverage
If you’re signed up for VA health care, you can manage your VA health and benefits online through VA.gov:
Send a secure message to your health care team
Check the status of a disability or pension claim
If you need help accessing services, call our toll-free hotline at 877-222-8387 (TTY: 711). We’re here Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.
Yes. You can update your personal, financial, insurance, or military service history information online, by phone, by mail, or in person.
If you disagree with the decision, you can request a decision review. We’ll send you a letter with the reason we’re not approving your application. This letter will include instructions on how to request a decision review.
Request a decision review or appeal
If you already requested a decision review or appeal, you can check the status.
First, you’ll want to gather any evidence to support your eligibility to stay enrolled in VA health care and send it to us. Evidence may include documents like doctor’s reports, medical tests, or military service records. You’ll have 60 days from the date you received your letter to send us this evidence before we make our final decision.
During these 60 days, you’ll keep and can continue to use your VA health care benefits.
If we decide not to keep you enrolled in VA health care after this time, you have the right to request a decision review.
Request a decision review or appeal
If you already requested a decision review or appeal, you can check the status.
You can cancel, or decline, enrollment at any time. Just submit a signed and dated document (like a letter) telling us that you want to cancel your coverage. You can bring your document to a VA medical center or mail it to this address:
VA Health Eligibility Center (HEC)
2957 Clairmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
Note: Canceling your enrollment in VA health care may impact your health care coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act if you don’t have other health care.
You may reapply at any time. But please note that we’ll consider you a new applicant when you reapply. We’ll base your eligibility on the eligibility requirements at that time.