MS and HPSP

[deleted918727]

Hi! I am currently on a year off between 2nd and 3rd year. I am a Navy HPSP student and have been having some health issues since starting my year off. My physicians now think this may be due to MS. I get my MRIs after Christmas.

Can I stay HPSP with MS? I just want to know what to expect. If I am discharged, will I be forced to pay everything back? I am overwhelmed with medical bills right now, and I really can't bear the thought of having to pay back 2 years of medical school tuition and living expenses.

Thank you for your insights. I just need to know how to mentally prepare myself for what may be to come.

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[backrow]

You are unlikely to be retained in the Service with a diagnosis of MS.


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[HighPriest]

You will most likely never be asked to repay anything, because this is a circumstance beyond your control. If you truly want to stay in, post pone your MRIs, and postpone the diagnosis. You're a smart person in medical school, so you can figure out how to likely treat your symptoms in the interim. If you can hold of a diagnosis until you are commissioned, you can get all your medical bills and treatment and everything else paid for.

This is a great way to go if you want the military to find out about it from reviewing your old records, and then accuse you of committing fraud. Then they can put you through a court marshal, and discharge you and ask you to pay everything back as well.

If you suspected a problem, but never saw anyone about it, then maybe you could just play dumb - at substantial personal risk of being untreated for a serious neurologic disease. But now that cat is out of the bag. Trying to skate by and hoping no one notices is an even more dangerous game. Maybe they'll never find out. But if they do, you're in serious trouble. This is terrible advice.

 

[militaryPHYS]

Agree with @HighPriest

There are many ways to legally take full advantage of the benefits afforded to us as military members. Once that process involves lying or deceit you are asking to be caught and made an example of.

You may have a very serious medical condition. Focus on your medical needs, standard textbook workup and diagnosis. Keep your points of contact for HPSP informed along the way.

Does anyone have the instruction for situations like this? I can't imagine you would be expected to pay back HPSP payments already made, but I also cannot find the relevant instruction right now.

 

[HighPriest]

If they asked you to pay them back due to a new diagnosis like this, I'd lawyer up. I doubt the government wants to be named in a press statement in which they're forcing a poor recruit who was diagnosed with MS after signing on the line to pay back tens-of-thousands of dollars. They would probably fold before it even went to arbitration or court. The DoD eats $100,000 as a third snack on Wednesdays. It's nothing to them. I would imagine they would not ask you to pay anything back.

But don't just hide it.

It's bad medical advice. it's bad legal advice.

 

[deleted480308]

Don't lie