The veteran's unauthorized medical expenses incurred at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center were not reimbursable due to the availability of a VA facility, and the veteran did not meet all criteria for reimbursement under applicable laws.
The deciding factor: No feasible VA or Federal facilities were available and using them beforehand would have been reasonable given the location of the nearest VA medical center (Boise VAMC) and the veteran's proximity to it.
- Claimed conditions
- psychosis, fracture of the cervical neck of the right humerus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension, new-onset non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, schizophrenia, right knee pain
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- December 14, 2006
- Citation
- 0638976
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,467 · Granted: 18% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 0638976.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
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Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
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The Veteran's claims for increased ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the need for additional development, including VA examinations.
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- Denied
The Veteran's claim for service connection for hypertension and increased rating for anxiety disorder have been denied. The Board found that there is no evidence of a current disability meeting the criteria for hypertension, and the Veteran's anxiety disorder does not meet the criteria for a higher rating.
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