DoD Program Makes It Easier to Enlist with ADHD, Asthma, Other Medical Conditions

More than 5,600 people with previously disqualifying medical conditions have been allowed to enlist in the military without having to get a waiver under a pilot program, a defense official said.
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One of the top recruiting problems that the military faces is that the MHS Genesis system, which uses private medical records of potential recruits at Military Entrance Processing Stations, requires recruits to get waivers for relatively minor health issues, said Katherine Kuzminski, director of the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security think tank in Washington, D.C.

By eliminating the need for recruits to get waivers for 51 medical conditions, the Defense Department is recognizing that the waiver process is taking too long and that most of those recruits who apply for such waivers get them in the end, Kuzminski told Task & Purpose.

The pilot program also allows the Defense Department to see if it can allow people to enlist who have medical conditions that the military is prepared to treat if service members develop them after joining, Kuzminski said.

“I have a feeling this limited group of 51 conditions are probably things that there’s already infrastructure within the military services and the military health system when it occurs in service,” Kuzminski said.

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