Variable Special Pay: Entitlement to Variable Special Pay extends to medical officers of the Air Force, Army, Navy, and the Public Health Service. The following medical officers, serving less than a year, are eligible:
Servicemembers with SGLI coverage have two options available to them upon release from service. They can convert their full-time SGLI coverage to term insurance under the Veterans' Group Life Insurance program or convert to a permanent plan of insurance with one of the participating commercial insurance companies. Follow these links for:
Retirement can occur after 20 years of active duty service. Retirement pay is calculated based on time in service and rank only. The bonuses that active duty physicians receive are not included in retirement pay.
Is is possible to use the ROTC scholarship to pay for undergraduate and then receive a HPSP scholarship or enroll at USUHS. Another option is to use ROTC to pay for undergraduate and then pay medical school costs out of pocket. The risks of ROTC are that an educational delay is required for medical school and that if you don't get into medical school on your first attempt you will be on active duty. The other possible drawback for funding college and medical school through ROTC, HPSP and USUHS is consecutive payback.
The December of issue of Money Magazine has a story about two married physicians who have a "staggering" $700k in debt. One of the physicians is a pediatrics resident and the other is an anesthesiology resident. When debt is itemized, $483k of the debt is from student loans. The rest is accounted for by a mortgage on a condo and car loan. Of significance, the couple is expecting a baby.
