The National Health Service Corps will pay for up to four years of medical school, plus a small stipend, in return for a commitment to serve an area iddentified as having too few primary care physicians.

http://nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov/about/

Haven't heard any comlplaints about it yet, and they are celebrating their 35th year...

My sister is a highly skilled cancer doctor. She just retired at the age of 56. She didn't even finish her residency until she was 30, and she put herself through school (with the help of her husband, school loans, etc).

What does she get for being a "lucky one"? Because she makes good money, she lost all of her standard deductions and exemptions for her income tax returns. She has no debt and no fancy investments that reduce her tax burden. So she pays the full rate. I don't consider it fair she doesn't even get her personal exemptions and standard deductiosn like everyone else. That is not equal taxation.

Then medicare and medicaid. She usually gets only 7 to 10% of the BILLED amount for a Medicaid patient. We figured out that works out to about $7 per hour that she gets paid hardly anything to treat an indigent patient for their cancer. This doesn't even cover her malpractice insurance for that particular patient.

How is this not "giving back" since the government refuses to pay the other 93% of the cost to treat this patient? About half of her uninsured/Medicaid patients are truly poor and could not truly afford the health insurance premiums, and the other half were just too selfish and/or lazy to pay for their own coverage, instead relying on the system to cover their costs. It is very frustrating that their own irresponsibility then gets imposed on my sister.

She retired recently rather than face nationalized health care. But here is the kicker, she voted for OBAMA because she is one of those high income liberals. Go figure. That is the ultimate irony.

I am a 4th year medical student and right now I PAY $5.40 per hour to work. (Of course, that is for a 40 hour work week; lucky for me the hourly rate goes down the more hours you work!) To make things even more fun, after I graduate I get to work in Manhattan for 3 years, making $48k per year. That comes out to less than minimum wage if I was paid by the hour. Somehow I'll have to pay back my $120,000 in loans at the same time. Of course, I try to look on the bright side and see this pitiful salary as a $9 per hour raise; at least I can finally stop paying to work.
I have a friend who graduated college the same year as me who is making greater than $55k per year, and he has been doing that for almost 4 years now. How many years will I have to work to cancel out my debt and catch up to his cumulative salary? I don't even want to think about it.
One thing I've noticed during my 2 years in the clinics is that people who have $0 copay tend to not appreciate any of the advice given to them. If you pay for something you will value it more. These same people also come to the doctor every time they have a cough or a stomach ache. Why shouldn't they? It is free after all. People would think twice about wasting the doctors' time on the common cold if there was some consequence attached to the decision.
The healthcare system is complex. If politicians would just leave it the hell alone, it just might stand a fighting chance. But that is a BIG "might".

The only thing you are "giving back" is free labor to the government.

Time for Doctors to close up shop. Can you imagine what kind of people a National Health Corps would attract? Teachers!

When a doctor sets up a practice or works in a hospital to care for patients, isn't that service to the community? Isn't that going "straight back into the community"? Don't politicians tell us that they have chosen public service...for which they are paid?

and who is going to pay their malpractice insurance (or is congress going to pass a law saying that they going to be exempt from being sued)? I know doctors who have left the profession due to the cost of insurance.

When was the last time you heard a politician or government bureaucrat talking about them GIVING BACK my tax money?

I actually thought of this general idea, but in a free market and positive-for-all approach. We, as taxpayers, could offer to pay for one year of med school in return for one year of service treating those on Medicaid/Medicare or the uninsured. They would get a sub-market salary but have no student loans. This would encourage more students to go into medicine as well, as many stay away simply because of the cost of all those extra years of school. At least this way it is voluntary and the doctors actually do have something to 'give back' because they got something up front to advance their long-term career.

Because they are the ones who never earned a damn thing in their lives! They have made a profession out of leeching off the hard work of others....perhaps they feel a twinge of guilt over this and are projecting onto others.

This whole mandatory community service smells a whole lot like mandatory servitude which is unconstitutional. Oops, when has the US Constitution stood in the way of the (Socialist)Democrats before?

The plan is to send out students to the field, STUDENTS. I have taken first aid, do I qualify? If Doctors have problems getting insurance for mailpractice, do we expect students to have it any better.

"universal healthcare and mandatory community service".....don't we have a Constitutional Amendment that abolished slavery?

Don't we already have the US Public Health Service?

As an added bonus, it's a uniformed service...

I'm all for this idea if they will add one item. That the "community" help pay for the school loans. Otherwise, it sounds more like punishment.