Will be commissioned in a few days, some contract based questions...

[The Dentisto]

Is the contract for the 4 year HPSP the exact same for all applicants? People are insisting that I look through it with a fine toothed comb to make sure the Army isn't screwing me over, but can they really leave something out and/or put something in that the other students are/aren't getting?

Is there any way to view the contract before I show up on signing day?

I'm most concerned about health insurance. My recruiter insists that the Army is not paying anymore than $600 a year for my health insurance while in school, but everyone here on SDN says that the Army will pay for all of it. Are the details of this going to be somewhere in the contract? If it says "only $600 per year" can I tell them to change that to full or else I won't sign (and expect them to change it)?

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[Lemon Rickey]

Well they won't pay for any of it if your school doesn't require health insurance.

 

[ALTOSS]

Well they won't pay for any of it if your school doesn't require health insurance.

I think such clauses are somewhere in the contract. I remember seeing them, something like the Army will reimburse for BASIC student health insurance as long as it is required by all students in school. Note the student insurance is the most basic version the school offers. In some schools, a more expensive program is set as default and you would have to personally downgrade it (if you want the Army to pay the100%). The recruiters are great, but in my experience, many of them are poorly informed, and could not care less to learn the correct details.

 

[findingnemo13]

I would insist on seeing the contract before you go to commission. I hope to do HPSP and I would like to see everything a few weeks in advance. When do they pay you the signing bonus? After commissioning?

 

[krmower]

Is the contract for the 4 year HPSP the exact same for all applicants? People are insisting that I look through it with a fine toothed comb to make sure the Army isn't screwing me over, but can they really leave something out and/or put something in that the other students are/aren't getting?

Is there any way to view the contract before I show up on signing day?

I'm most concerned about health insurance. My recruiter insists that the Army is not paying anymore than $600 a year for my health insurance while in school, but everyone here on SDN says that the Army will pay for all of it. Are the details of this going to be somewhere in the contract? If it says "only $600 per year" can I tell them to change that to full or else I won't sign (and expect them to change it)?

Nope. Contracts are set...they can't be changed by the recruiters. Also a note on the insurance...it covers you. If your school requires insurance they will cover whatever the basic plan covers. If you are married and it is required by the school, they only cover your individual insurance...not for your family.

I attended a school that had optional insurance and did not have it covered by the Army. The Army scholarship is to cover required expenses (tuition, books, etc...). It has nothing to do with insurance or other benefits. Soldiers in the Reserve do not receive free insurance either, so this is in line with how all Reserve Soldiers are treated.

Remember the Army is also paying you a stipend to cover living expenses, health insurance is a living expense when not required by the school.

 

[ALTOSS]

I would insist on seeing the contract before you go to commission. I hope to do HPSP and I would like to see everything a few weeks in advance. When do they pay you the signing bonus? After commissioning?

You get your bonus within a few weeks from reveiving the first stipend (as early as late August, but usually in Sept or Oct). You will get it in 3 installments after pre estimated federal and state income taxes are deducted: I received 6000, 6000, and 4000. You will have to file a tax return to get some of it back some time in the following year.

 

[IlDestriero]

They won't modify the contract got you. It is what it is.
Better ask all your questions ASAP, as in tonight. Don't assume what the recruiter said was 100% honest. He might have given you unlikely, though THEORETICALLY possible, best case scenarios. They're great at that.
Reading it probably won't help much because you won't understand the terminology and interpret things incorrectly. Having said that, read it anyway.
As always, of you're doing it for the money and not from a real desire to serve, and end up doing something other then primary care, you'll come out very negative, far far more if you don't match and spend some time in GMO land. (could be well more than $1m in lost income)

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

They won't modify the contract got you. It is what it is.
Better ask all your questions ASAP, as in tonight. Don't assume what the recruiter said was 100% honest. He might have given you unlikely, though THEORETICALLY possible, best case scenarios. They're great at that.
Reading it probably won't help much because you won't understand the terminology and interpret things incorrectly. Having said that, read it anyway.
As always, of you're doing it for the money and not from a real desire to serve, and end up doing something other then primary care, you'll come out very negative, far far more if you don't match and spend some time in GMO land. (could be well more than $1m in lost income)

Not trying to trash military physicians, but beware of some of the advice that military physician give here in the dental forum. There are a lot of them who like to come to SDN to complain. There are so many more unhappy military physicians then there are military dentists.

 

[krmower]

They won't modify the contract got you. It is what it is.
Better ask all your questions ASAP, as in tonight. Don't assume what the recruiter said was 100% honest. He might have given you unlikely, though THEORETICALLY possible, best case scenarios. They're great at that.
Reading it probably won't help much because you won't understand the terminology and interpret things incorrectly. Having said that, read it anyway.
As always, of you're doing it for the money and not from a real desire to serve, and end up doing something other then primary care, you'll come out very negative, far far more if you don't match and spend some time in GMO land. (could be well more than $1m in lost income)

I know as a dentist if I ended up in GMO land I would really be questioning what I got myself into

 

[IlDestriero]

Sorry about that, I'm used to the milmed forum, this post must have popped up in the new posts tab. I didn't realize it was dental HPSP.
Good luck in the .mil.

 

[vellnueve]

I know as a dentist if I ended up in GMO land I would really be questioning what I got myself into

Yep... military dentists definitely get a better deal than physicians.