CHICAGO – The American Medical Association (AMA) is pushing for a permanent fix to a bill that has taken away a three-year medical loan deferment for medical students serving their residency.
The bill, HR 2699, The College Cost Reduction and Access Act, was signed at the end of September and went into effect on Oct. 1, 2007, taking away the so-called “20/220 pathway.” A temporary fix has been secured, but it only allows those in their residency to apply for the deferment until July 2009.
Currently, there are approximately 100,000 medical residents nationwide, and most are serving a three-year residency.
“The average medical student today graduates with $139,000 in debt,” said AMA Board Member Chris DeRienzo, a fourth-year medical student at Duke University School of Medicine. “Making it harder for residents to pay back this high debt can deter young physicians from going into primary care medicine or practicing in underserved areas where patients desperately need them.”
The AMA is asking physicians to write to their congressmen and senators to help push for the new pieces of legislation, (H.R. 4344 and S. 2303), which would permanently restore the medical student loan deferment program, known as the 20/220 pathway.
The pathway refers to the two provisions medical students have to meet to qualify for the deferment: A resident’s debt must be greater than 20 percent of their his or her, and his/her income minus the debt burden must not be greater than 220 percent of the federal poverty level, which is currently around $10,000 per person and $13,000 for a couple.
The new bill would also expand the economic hardship qualifications, which may allow more medical residents to benefit from this program.
“The Higher Education Act will be looked at again in the spring and we hope to get this new legislation tacked on as an amendment,” DeRienzo said.
According to the AMA, the federal Council on Graduate Medical Education has predicted a shortage of 85,000 physicians by the year 2020. Making it harder for students to defer medical student loans during a portion of their residency years could further deter others from pursuing a career in medicine.
“We are committed to working with Congress and the Department of Education on a long term solution for continued loan deferment eligibility for medical residents,” DeRienzo said. “Medical school has definitely been worth it. A gift that I think that society gives us (physicians), and I’ve been rewarded.”