Neuronix said:
Read the military med forum indeed. Triscare? It's as bad as any real-world HMO.
Look this up in the military med forum also. This is absolutely false. Why? It's not because of lots of patients, but instead being assigned lots of administrative non-medical duties.
Considering your spouse can go wherever the military assigns you. This could be the absolute middle of nowhere. Then, they could move you at any time, making your spouse and kids move with you again. You get little say as to where your duty station will be.
All of this can be backed up with military med posts. I can look these posts up myself if anyone would like.
I can't say that I've spent that much time in the military med forum, but I have spent a lot of time with Navy docs and in Navy hospitals. That is what I based my post on, and I stand by it.
The part of the Tricare (or whatever they're calling it these days) system that starts to get ugly is when the patient wants to go pick their doc out in town. At that point, it does become very HMO-like. But that is largely invisible to the military docs working in the military hospitals and clinics. And lets not even get into malpractice liability.
I definitely stand by what I said about the hours generally being better for military docs, as well. It is a generalization, and therefore subject to exceptions, but the military docs I have known definitely worked less hours than their civillian counterparts. Of course, they make less money on average, too. And when you are deployed, it's a 24/7 job. And you are right about some of the "administrative non-medical duties." But many of the docs I know enjoy some of these duties. The flight surgeons really don't seem to mind the flight time they have to get. And many of the other docs like the time they are required to spend doing physical training and other activities with their units.
As far as the family issue, you are right about having to move around. Some people enjoy that aspect as well, though. Getting to live in different areas of the country every few years can be fun. Of course, it does raise potential problems, which needs to be considered before you decide to join.
I'm certainly not trying to get into any kind of debate here. I am just saying, from the inside, that the military lifestyle is not bad. I enjoy it, in fact. And most of the military docs I know are not just counting the days until their commitment is up. They like it enough to stay well beyond their commitment. I even know several who got out and came back because they preferred military medicine for the reasons I have discussed.
It's not like everybody in the military got duped into it in exchange for some tuition money. Some of us find it very rewarding. It's certainly not for everybody, and there are plenty of other ways to serve your country, but there are lots of positive reasons to go the military route.
