Okay, so after getting my initial response messed up by being logged out, I've finally built up the energy to rewrite, so here goes. Some of this will likely get into "the weeds" as they like to say, but I'll try to make it readable. (Realize not even all medical corps officers understand all the details and not even the personnel depts understand [as I found out the hard way once])
Do non-USNA grads, who get involved in one of these military-paid medical school programs, get the identical obligation as the USNA grads for the same program? I understand the USNA grads have the 5yrs to serve for their USNA education ... I'm just talking about the additional portion for medical school.
In other words, let's say a University of Michigan undergrad student (non-ROTC) applies and gets accepted to a civilian medical school and has the Navy pay for it (HPSP). You've said that program has a four year obligation attached to it - and the years in medical school, obviously, do not count toward that obligation. So, we're talking approximately 7yrs after his graduation from the University of Michigan, he/she could be out practicing privately as a civilian with zero medical school debt? Or, at least, out doing a civilian residency.
Yes, the "civilian" graduate would have the same obligation for medical school and any Graduate Medical Education/GME (official term for medical internships/residency/fellowships)
The commitments are as follows:
HPSP= year for year (there are 3yr scholarships available)
USUHS= 7yrs
Any Graduate Medical Education = 6mos for every 6mos
Upon graduation from any GME program you cannot have less time left to serve than that equal to the number of years you spent in training. (example, you start a fellowship that is 2yrs long at a point in your career that you only have one year left on an obligation. You would then graduate from that program with a 2yr commitment)
For ease of understanding I always say your Academy/ROTC/USUHS time does not get paid back during training; however, officially this is not correct. You actually do pay off time for those commitments while in training; however, you are at the same time picking up a new 6mos/6mos obligation. Simply easier to just say payback pauses, but this does in fact have a subtle effect (this is "the weeds" I mentioned.)
It's hard to imagine that the Navy is getting its money's worth on that deal.
I would say the Navy gets a fair deal out of it. They pay for 3 or 4 years of medical school (they pay tuition/fees + a small stipend) and in return get a doctor for at least 5 years. They get to deploy this doctor to the farthest reaches of the world and make them work in austere environments with minimal manning and funding. (As an example, I just returned from a deployment on the ground in the Middle East where I had over 400 people I had to take care of with a budget of $0)
Further, do those in the medical field get any kind of "incentive pay" (or, whatever it's called) over-and-above their normal military pay?
Yes, there are several pays that physicians are entitled to based on specialty, years of service, board certified, training status, etc. You can see the full table at this link:
http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2010WebPayTable34.pdf however, here's the skinny:
Variable Special Pay: All physicians regardless of training status, based on years, ranges from 100 to 1,000 a month
Additional Special Pay: Lump sum $15,000 for all physicians not in training
Incentive Special Pay: Based on specialty, ranges from 20 to 36,000 a year
Multiyear Special Pay: Based on specialty and must agree to an obligation of 2-4 more years. Is in the 5 figure range per year. Can only get this if you have completed all other obligations.
There are also some other special pays you can qualify for based on your billet: Flight Pay, Sea Duty Pay, Dive Pay, etc; however, those are available to everyone not just physicians.
I would think the Navy would get considerable bang for their buck putting Naval Academy graduates into the medical field.
Yes, they basically get a career officer.
