HARRISBURG, PA – A new bill introduced in Pennsylvania’s House would have the state pay the balances of medical students’ loans for graduates who agree to practice medicine in the state for 10 years.
Rep. Josh Shapiro’s (D-Pa.) House Bill 1093 addresses the state’s difficulty in keeping doctors within its borders, a factor likely to spur a shortage of physicians in the near future.
“The major problems we have are that 41 percent of our physicians will retire in the next 10 years; 3 percent are under the age of 35; and 8 percent of our medical students stay in practice, down from 50 percent 10 years ago,” Shapiro said.
The “loan forgiveness” program would be available to any medical student who agrees to practice in Pennsylvania for at least 10 years, said Shapiro. During each of those years, the state would pay 10 percent of the total amount a physician owes, paying the last amount in the tenth year.
Physicians who enter the program and then decide to leave to practice outside of Pennsylvania would be responsible for paying the rest of their debt. Additionally, those physicians would have to repay the state for the loan payments already made.
According to estimates, the average debt for medical students ranges from $100,000 to $140,000. Shapiro said the forgiveness program is being re-examined to determine how much total money the state would be made to pay under the bill.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society, the state’s chapter of the American College of Physicians and the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania supported the bill at a June 4 press conference in Harrisburg. ACP’s John Derrickson said the bill addresses the “crushing burden of medical school debt for young doctors.”
Gabriel Silverman, an MD and PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said there are many factors that determine where students decide to practice, but he believes that the bill is likely to be a strong inducement to keep medical students in Pennsylvania.
“I think it will be especially attractive to students who already have families in Pennsylvania and are looking to stay here,” he said.
The forgiveness program also could greatly affect the mix of people entering medical school as tuitions continue to rise, Silverman added.
“The higher the costs of getting an MD, the fewer low-income students we’ll have in medicine,” he said. “The lower-income students are the most likely to go into underserved areas after graduating. (The bill) could encourage people to go into medical school who didn’t previously consider it.”
While Pennsylvania’s loan forgiveness program is Shapiro’s innovation, similar initiatives have been implemented elsewhere.
Many states and organizations use loan forgiveness or reimbursement as a way of encouraging providers to practice in underserved areas.