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For veterans, and the people beside them
For anyone in the United States who served, and for the family, caregivers and friends beside them. Who answers at 3 a.m. Mental health care you can use even if you never enrolled. How to get VA health care, file a disability claim, and get free help doing it. What to do if VA said no, if you have nowhere to stay, or if your discharge wasn’t honorable. And the words to say when you call. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- In crisis, or worried about a veteran who is? Dial 988, then press 1. Or text 838255. The Veterans Crisis Line answers at any hour, and you don’t have to be enrolled in VA.
- In danger? Call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room or VA medical center.
- Nowhere to sleep tonight, or about to lose your place? The National Call Center for Homeless Veterans: 877-424-3838, any hour. Free and confidential.
- Want to talk with someone who served? The Vet Center call center: 877-927-8387, any hour.
More help
- A plan for the worst nights? Safety plan and Hope box.
- Can’t sleep? Can’t sleep?
- Anger that gets ahead of you? When anger takes over.
- An urge to drink or use? Ride the urge.
- Feeling like nobody gets it? You’re not the only one.
- Nowhere to stay? When you need a place to stay.
- Health keeps you from working? Applying for disability benefits (Social Security).
- Worried about a veteran you love? When you’re worried about someone.
- Hit on the head, recently or years ago? After a hit to the head (concussion and brain injury).
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When the past won’t stay in the past: what is common after something terrible and what PTSD is, what to do in a flashback or after a nightmare, and finding someone who treats trauma.
- When drinking or drugs have become a problem: who answers at any hour, the signs, where to start, and kinds of treatment.
- When a medical bill is too much: what to check before you pay, the financial help nonprofit hospitals must offer, surprise bills, and debt collectors.
- When you’re caring for someone: looking after someone who is older, ill or disabled: who helps caregivers, how to get a break, and what Medicare does and doesn’t pay for.
- When you can’t afford a dentist: where low-cost care is, what Medicaid and Medicare cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford a dentist: the signs that should not wait, dental schools, health centers, Medicaid and CHIP, what Medicare leaves out, dental plans, and VA dental care.
- When you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: free and low-cost programs, what Medicare and insurance cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: the changes that should not wait, free and low-cost programs, what children are owed, what Medicare leaves out and covers, vision coverage for adults, and eye care through VA.
- When you have no ride to the doctor: Medicaid rides, what Medicare covers, VA rides and travel pay, paratransit, and who to call: when you have no ride to the doctor: the ride Medicaid covers and how to set it up, when Medicare pays for an ambulance, free rides and travel pay from VA, the federal paratransit rule, and who to call.
- When you can’t afford medical equipment: wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen and hospital beds, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and where to borrow: when you can’t afford medical equipment: what Medicare counts as equipment, the question to ask a supplier first, how oxygen rental works, what Medicaid may not refuse outright, and the program in every state that lends and reuses devices.
- When you need help at home and can’t pay for it: home health care, aides, bathing and meals, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and who to ask: when you need help at home and can’t pay for it: the home health care Medicare covers and the daily help it leaves out, the short deadline when an agency says your care is ending, what Medicaid must cover at home and may add, the VA programs, and the local agencies behind home-delivered meals.
- When someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: what Medicare covers, Medicaid, a spouse at home, being told to leave, and who to ask: when someone needs a nursing home and you can’t pay for it: the short stay Medicare covers and the long stay it does not, what Medicaid must cover, what is protected for a spouse at home, when a nursing home may make a resident leave, the VA homes, and who stands up for residents.
- When you can’t pay the mortgage: a missed mortgage payment or a foreclosure notice: calling your servicer, a free HUD-approved housing counselor, ways to stay or to leave, and the “rescue” that is a scam.
- When you might be evicted: rent you can’t pay, an eviction notice or court papers: help with rent, free legal aid, talking with your landlord, and what a landlord cannot do.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ own pages on VA.gov, VeteransCrisisLine.net and the Vet Center site. The phone numbers, hours and rules were read on those pages on October 1, 2026. Things change, so check with VA before you rely on any of them. Where we could not confirm something, such as the deadlines for a decision review, the copay amounts or the pension dollar limits, the page says so and does not guess. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not part of VA or any government agency, is not a Veterans Service Organization, and is not a law office or a clinic. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].