hi everyone and welcome to our video lesson my name is instructor oliver and today we will be discussing champ va so let's begin what is champ va the civilian health and medical program of the department of veterans affair champier is a comprehensive health care program in which the va shares the cost of covered health care services and supplies with eligible beneficiaries the program is administered by the veterans health administration office of community care in denver colorado champ va and the department of defense the dod tricare program sometimes referred to by its old name of champis do share similarities between one another um the two are often mistaken for each other actually um champ va is a department of veterans affairs program while tricare is a regionally managed healthcare program for active duty and retired members of the uniformed services their families and survivors in some cases a veteran may appear to be eligible for both or either program on paper however if they are a military retiree or the spouse of a veteran who was killed in action they will always be a tricare beneficiary and cannot choose between the two programs another thing that is worth mentioning is um champ va and the affordable care act the affordable care act also known as the aca is a healthcare law that was created to expand access to affordable healthcare coverage for all americans lower cost and improve quality and care coordination under the health care law people will have health coverage that meets a minimum standard called a minimum essential coverage the health care law designates champ ba as fulfilling the minimum essential coverage requirement in general champ va covers most health care services and supplies that are medically and psychologically necessary services and supplies when they are medically necessary and if they are received from an authorized provider will normally be acceptable certain things and benefits certain benefits that champia would provide to their members would be ambulance service ambulatory surgeries dme so durable medical equipment family planning and maternity care hospice services inpatient and outpatient services mental health services pharmacies um skilled nursing care and transplant services to be eligible for champ va an individual cannot be eligible for tricare and they must meet one of the following categories the spouse or child of a veteran who has been rated permanently and totally disabled for a service-connected disability by a va regional office the surviving spouse or child of a veteran who died from a va related service connected disability the surviving spouse or child of a veteran who was at the time of death rated permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability and lastly the surviving spouse or child of a military member who died in the line of duty not due to misconduct in most of these cases these family members are eligible for tricare not champ va champ va is always the secondary payer to medicare if an individual is eligible for medicare at any age and for any reason they must enroll in a medicare part a and medicare part b to keep their champ va benefits social security administration documentation of enrollment in both part a and part b is required by champ ba they are not required to enroll in medicare part d in order to become or remain eligible for champia this concludes our video lesson hope you enjoyed the topic discussed today have a great day and thank you for joining