The Foreign Medical Program (FMP) covers medical care that you get in a country outside the U.S. for a service-connected condition. Read this page to find out how to file your claim.
If your provider files your FMP claim for you, we’ll pay them directly for the cost of your service-connected care.
If your provider doesn’t file a claim, you’ll need to pay the provider and file a claim yourself. We’ll pay you back for the cost of your service-connected care.
We only cover the cost of care for your service-connected conditions or conditions that relate to or make your service-connected condition worse. If you have other health insurance, you may be able to file claims with your other health insurance provider for care that’s not related to your service-connected disabilities.
You’ll need to send these documents with your claim:
To help us process your claim faster, ask your provider if they can provide any documents or notes in English. We’ll translate any information written in other languages. But translation may delay the processing of your claim.
Inpatient hospital care
Send your discharge summary. You get this document when you leave the hospital. If you got an operation, include your operation report.
Medical devices, equipment, or supplies
Send the prescription for the device, equipment, or supplies. Make sure the document includes this information:
If your equipment or device has modifications (changes) or nonstandard features, include a description of these changes or features and why you need them.
Prescription medicines
Send the prescription and a receipt from your provider or the pharmacy. If you don’t have your receipt, you can send a billing statement with the pharmacist’s signature and a stamp that says “paid.”
Make sure the receipt includes this information:
COVID-19 vaccines
Make sure your itemized billing statement includes the name of the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer. If you don’t have an itemized statement, you can submit a receipt.
You must file your claim within of when you got the care.
If you stayed in a hospital for care, you must file your claim within of when you left the hospital.
We’ll review your documents. If we need more information, we’ll contact you. After we process your claim, we’ll send you a letter to explain our decision.
We’ll send your payment in 1 of these 2 ways:
If you’ve changed your direct deposit information, you’ll need to contact us to make sure we send your payment to the correct account.
Learn how to change direct deposit information for your VA benefits
We’ll convert the claim amount into U.S. dollars when we pay your claim. We’ll use the conversion rate from the date you received care.
If you disagree with our decision, you can ask us to reconsider. We call this an appeal. You must request the appeal within of the original decision.
Mail a letter requesting an appeal to this address:
VHA Office of Integrated Veteran Care
Appeals
PO Box 600
Spring City, PA 19475
Include any new information or documents that support your claim.
You can contact us in any of these ways:
Contact us online through Ask VA
Email your claim-related questions to [email protected]. To protect your privacy, don’t send sensitive personal or health care information by email.
Call (TTY: 711) and select 3. We’re here Monday through Friday, 8:05 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. ET.
If you’re living in one of these countries, you can call the FMP office toll-free:
