Health Care Enrollment

To get enrolled in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, veterans must complete the 10-10EZ form, which is the application form for Health Benefits. This form may be obtained from any VA office, including:

W.G. (Bill) Hefner Salisbury Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
1601 Brenner Avenue
Salisbury, NC 28144-2515
Eligibility Office: Building 3, Floor 1

Priority Groups

When you apply for VA health care, you’ll be assigned 1 of 8 priority groups. This system helps to make sure that Veterans who need immediate care can get signed up quickly.

Your priority group may affect how soon we sign you up for health care benefits. It may also affect how much (if anything) you’ll have to pay toward the cost of your care.

Learn more about priority groups.

Special Health Care Programs

Veterans eligible for participation in any of the VA registries may receive free, registry medical examinations, including laboratory and other diagnostic tests deemed necessary by an examining clinician. Eligible veterans do not have to be enrolled in VA Health Care to participate in registry examinations. Detailed information can be found at the VA Environmental Agents Website.

Agent Orange Registry

This registry is provided for Vietnam veterans, who might have been exposed to dioxin or other toxic substances in herbicides used in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975. It is also available for veterans, who served in Korea in 1968-69, or anyone involved in the testing, transportation, or spraying of herbicides for the military.

The benefits of joining the registry are that you will receive an in-depth physical examination by medical personnel with expertise in Agent Orange-related problems. This serves two purposes. One is that you may discover a condition that you were unaware of and the earlier it is detected, the easier it will be to treat. The second benefit is that all the data goes into a huge database on Agent Orange. 

This information is studied by the medical profession to better detect problems associated with Agent Orange and possible treatments.
To get on the registry, contact your nearest VA Health Care facility. If you would like further information on this subject you can go to the VH Handbook on the Agent Orange Registry.

Gulf War Registry

This registry is for veterans, who served in the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom from August 2, 1990, to a date not yet established. The Gulf War Registry allows veterans who served in the Gulf War to receive a full physical examination. The results of the physical examinations and tests given during the physical will then be mailed to Washington D.C. for evaluation. In return, the results of these physical examinations are used to assess and examine the cause(s) of the Gulf War Syndrome. The updates and results from these tests will be published online. You may also read the VA Gulf War Registry Handbook for further basic information.

Ionizing Radiation Registry

This registry is for veterans, who were possibly exposed to atomic radiation during the following activities:

  • Participation in a test involving the atmospheric detonation of a nuclear device
  • Occupation of Hiroshima or Nagasaki from August 6, 1945, through July 1, 1946
  • Internment as a prisoner of war in Japan during WW II
  • Serving in official military duties at the Department of Energy gaseous diffusion plants at Paducah, KY or Portsmouth, OH
  • Serving in official military duties at the K-25 area at Oak Ridge, TN, for at least 250 days before February 1, 1992
  • Serving in official military duties at the Longshot, Milrow, or Cannikin underground nuclear tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska before January 1, 1974
  • Treatment with nasopharyngeal (NP) radium during military service

For further information on this registry, you may look at the online Ionizing Radiation Registry handbook.