I was taken to the hospital via ambulance after being involved in a car accident. I was on XXXX VA XXXX from a follow up of a surgery, when I was in a car that was struck by a speeder on the side of the car where I was sitting. The impact XXXX I had at the VA hospital. I was taken directly to the emergency room, my mother was with me and told the doctor I am a veteran, I also had on the wristband from the VA hospital because I was on my way home before being in the accident. I never made it home, obviously. 
So months after the accident I received a call from a collection company about this bill. I told them they must have been mistaken because I was a passenger in the vehicle, and the insurance was supposed to pay the entire amount of the bill, I did not have a car at that time and did not, have auto insurance, nor did I have health insurance because I was not working so I was covered under the veteran medical coverage due to my low income. Normally if a veteran enters a civilian hospital with no insurance the civilian hospital is required to contact the nearest veteran hospital within XXXX hours from time of arrival to either make arrangements to have the veteran transported to the nearest VA facility or to inform the VA that they have XXXX of their patients so they can share the medical records and billing. This was not done when I was a patient at the hospital, in fact the hospital did not even send me a bill after the insurance paid them. It was months later ( at least 6 months ) that I got a call from the collection company. The following is a link from the Dept. of Veterans Affairs website " XXXX 2001, the U.S. Congress provided VA with authorization ( called the Mill Bill ) to pay for emergency care in non-VA facilities for veterans enrolled in the VA health care system. The benefit will pay for emergency care rendered for non-service-connected conditions for enrolled veterans who have no other source of payment for the care. However, VA will only pay to the point of medical stability. There are very strict guidelines concerning these types of claims. Veterans and their non-VA providers should be aware that these claims must be filed with the VA within XXXX days from the last day of the emergent care. ''