Try this ... https://www.1010ez.med.va.gov/sec/vha/1010ez/
I would suggest that if you called a number before and did not succeed getting through, keep trying, or try different numbers.
---- But for the most part -- your best bet is complete the application first ---
Few VA clinics have the time and staffs to do phone contacts; thus veterans are first directed to the on-line service or automated service.
Once you are in the system, however, you can establish yourself on the VA Myhealthevet website,, which is the VA's medical care webpage. You can order prescriptions on line without going in personally.
Again, do your administering first On-Line and then use the forms suggested on the website. In this way you are establishing activity and a reference point.
Veterans are suggested to register with the VA Health system when they are first processing out of the service, so that after being discharged, they are informed about the importance of being registered, and make their status official and known. However, some veterans do not do this, which failing does cause certain delays or problems later, because there is a time cut off in which you have to activate this.
But as a veteran you cannot be denied VA health coverage by the VA.
The idea of registering is that even if you use a private health care system at first or later, you can still rest that you will have already set up yourself in the VA system. And if you have already a healthcare plan, the VA will simply charge the healthcare plan for whatever services they give you as opposed to your private health care plan.
One thing for sure is that you will need a copy (copy 4) of your DD 214. Many veterans get completely no-fee services, especially those who have service-connected disabilities.
Above a certain income, however, I believe above $13,000, the VA 'does' charge the veteran, but the charge is only for the prescripton medications -- which at one time maxed-out at $8.00 per prescription no matter how expensive the medication otherwise -- and the cost may still be the same if and only if the prescription is written by a VA doctor; otherwise, the VA does not honor outside medical services provided to veterans.
The $13,000 mark indicates that a veteran with that income or above can pay his or her own prescription expenses. The VA wants veterans to do an eligibility verification each year to determine that capability, primarily to categorize the veteran's income status so that it can know if it is to charge or not regardless of whether a veterans has health coverage or not.
The income that you report or the absence of income is then verified by a national data base derived from the IRS, so you are useless to try giving a bogus income figure.
The initial steps, once you submit the first required paperwork, are the VA sets an appointment to meet with intake people in a designated color-coded provider group, which represents what group of providers you are assigned to. Then you verily begin the process of meeting personally with a staff of RN's and LVN's for initial health checks and then finally assigned to your primary healthcare provider -- he or she may be a Nurse Practitioner, a Physician's Assistant, or an MD, depending on the level of care you need. Thereafter, the provider directs you to whatever specialist needed if any.
But first -- register by way of the form indicated on line that you can complete on line and then download. Then just mail it in.