A United States lawmaker is introducing new legislation that will automatically forgive student loan debt for health workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carolyn Maloney (pictured), a Democrat who represents a New York District in the House of Representatives, said her Student Debt Forgiveness for Frontline Health Care Workers Act would alleviate a financial burden for medical professionals and help attract other health care workers to help respond to COVID-19.
“Medical professionals in hospitals and other medical settings are operating in extraordinarily difficult and dangerous circumstances to provide care for critically ill COVID-19 patients and to protect our communities,” Ms Maloney said.
“The least we can do to recognise their service is to forgive their graduate student loan debt so that they are not forced to worry about their financial wellbeing in addition to their health and the health of their families while they respond to a public health emergency,” she said.
Currently, the often controversial Student Loan Forgiveness Scheme operates only for those who have worked for 10 years in relatively low-paid Public Service and not-for-profit organisations, while making regular monthly repayments.
Under the current Scheme, at the end of the decade, the balance of the loans would be forgiven.
However bureaucratic hurdles have meant that only a tiny fraction of participants had completed the scheme successfully.
Ms Maloney’s proposed legislation has roots in a MoveOn.org petition, which has reached 500,000 signatures.
Petition organiser, Consuelo Lopez-Morillas called for Congress to include student loan forgiveness for all health care professionals in the next stimulus Bill or rescue package.
Likening them to “soldiers in a war”, Ms Lopez-Morillas said that if student loan forgiveness was implemented, more health care professionals would be willing to work in lower-paying specialties or in rural or under-served areas.
Washington, 28 April, 2020
