He makes his living inspecting homes.
But in this down economy, Charles says business has been slow.
Certainly not the best time to be forced to go to the emergency room three times without insurance.
"The whole bill came to about $29,000 for all three incidents."
Charles thought the VA would pay those bills.
He was a navy diver in Vietnam.
But Charles says he was told no.
"We just couldn't get them to pay for it."
Those trips to the ER were painful enough physically....
"I had a cracked vertebrae."
...then to compound the problem by being faced to take a close look at nearly $30,000 in medical bills everyday.
"I was really concerned because that was a lot of money."
For months, Charles says he worked with the folks at the local VA offices to get those bills paid.
"The VA here in Tulsa and Muskogee are the best people in the world."
But getting through to those at the national level, Charles says, turned into a big battle.
"It's dealing with the government and that can be frustrating."
Finally, Charles called the 2News problem solvers and we contacted the VA in Washington DC.
A spokesperson told me she'd look into Charles' case. Within a few days, most of his medical bills were paid."
"It was a big relief, it really was."
Charles says he was told there were complications in getting his medical bills paid at first because he hadn't had a check up with the VA in five years.
But now Charles' complications and $28,000 of his medical bills, have been cleared up.
Experts recommend you take a close look at your medical coverage.
Some plans require regular checkups.
If you don't get those checkups, they may not pay some claims.
