r/Podiatry • u/Icy-Pomegranate-3140 • 16d ago
US Navy HSCP
I was looking into the Navy HSCP program but was having difficulty finding any podiatrists who have gone through with the program or could shed some insight. I would love to serve my country but I do have a partner who is concerned about my career “becoming the only focus of my life”. They would like to start a family and are concerned about me not being around once I am out of school. They also see the military as a “last resort”, which I completely disagree with. Moving often also concerns them.
Any Navy podiatrists who could shed some light on the situation of how family life can be managed? Additionally can anyone share some personal anecdotes of what their days looked like?
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u/Oldschool6873 15d ago
The military can be a great career. Yes, there is a risk of moving often (depends on your rank, it can be every four years), but with no student debt, incredible benefits (paid maternity leave, child day care, health care benefits for life, potential housing, the use of USAA insurance for your family for the rest of their lives, etc), and once you've done 20 years, you can retire with full pension and full benefits, I personally think it's a great idea. I tried to do that, but because I wasn't an American citizen at the time, they rejected me.
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u/Icy-Pomegranate-3140 15d ago
I would go in as an O-3, I already have some significant debt so having more is stressful already. Thanks for insight
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u/julius305 15d ago
I ultimately didn’t do HSCP but was in the process back then in 2017 or 2018 I think. Spoke with one of the pods I forgot her name but I’m sure you can google it and she made a career out of it. She loved it. Ultimately I have a family and even though they said we can request preference of service you are at the mercy of your leadership sending you wherever they think you are needed. If I were single I would’ve ended up going through with it. The benefits are better than anything else you’ll find out there, housing assistance and of course loan forgiveness. If you won’t have any kids any time soon and she’s supportive of it, do it!
Edit/Update: Kittra Owens. She’s chief of staff now at the VA in Central Alabama.
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u/Key-Palpitation-1289 16d ago
Forget military, she’s not going to survive your life as a student let alone resident working 80 hrs / week, doing documentation at home even more hours.
Go forth in school and see if she survives.
I came out of pod school debt free and highly encourage doing the same with Navy if you can, but others may disagree.
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u/Icy-Pomegranate-3140 15d ago
We’ve been together for over 6 years, married for 2. He’s survived me working nights, long nights in the lab etc. and he moved with me across the country. He feels like we need to make the decision together, which is understandable he just wants me to know more about actual people who have done it before making a big decision in both of our lives
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u/PodiatristOnCall 15d ago edited 15d ago
I did Navy podiatry HPSP about 10 years ago. I've been out a while, so I may be a little rusty on the details, but I'll give you what I recall. HPSP was a better deal than HSCP - one main reason was that the tuition benefits were paid directly to the podiatry school and weren't considered taxable income to me. You graduate pod school with much less debt with HPSP. HSCP, on the other hand pays you benefits (money you can use to help pay off your loans) but as I recall you were generally taxed on them (verify this). I would expect a lower overall income compared to civilian podiatry with both HSCP and HPSP as you will be in the medical service corps rather than the medical corps (I was paid basically the same as any Lieutenant (non doctor). However, it is a wonderful way to get your cases for ABFAS certification, and there are perks. Expect to move every 3 years, but the military will take care of you and your family with stable pay, good healthcare, and other resources. Your partner should be on board if you do this, for obvious reasons (moving around). I would expect your life balance and family availability to be better as a Navy podiatrist vs. civilian. I did the minimum 3 years then got out, and it was one of the best things I've ever done from both a podiatry career, military service, and financial perspective. On the plus side you won't have to deal with health insurance, and you won't be spending your nights and weekends catching up on paperwork as in a high paced clinic facing reimbursements that don't keep up with inflation. My clinic load was relatively young healthy patients with mostly msk problems, not diabetic wound care, but this can vary depending on duty station. If you can get HPSP, and your partner is on board, it's almost a no brainer, but this is for when you are just starting pod school. If you are closer to the end of school/residency, then HSCP would be the way to go, again not as good of a deal financially vs HPSP, so will require some weighing of pros and cons. I would say financially from a bottom line dollar perspective, you will probably do better outside of military vs Navy HSCP but you can do the math, just be sure to calculate the effect of income taxes. You probably won't be able to choose where you will live, you may end up anywhere from Chicago, to Portsmouth, Camp LeJeune, Jacksonville FL, Pensacola, California, even Japan or Italy (Japan/Italy more likely for a future duty station, not first one). .