Recommendation: All active-duty service members should be able to choose other medical providers other than their primary care provider.
Justification: The U.S. military is struggling to fill the ranks of its Medical Corps. The rate of recruitment is not keeping up with the number of personnel leaving the service. This impacts the force significantly. On average, active-duty service members will wait 2-3 months to be seen by their primary care provider (depending on duty station). If the active-duty member needs to see a specialist (i.e. pain management, endocrinologist, neurology, etc.), he / she must be seen by their primary care provider first in order to receive a referral to that medical specialist. This is a monumental waste of time. An active-duty service member waste months upon months just to make an appointment, identify the medical issue, and receive the proper care. On the other hand, the spouse of the active-duty member can be seen at any time by any provider or specialist approved by the military, thereby decreasing the time between appointments and treatment.