Assistance would help defer interest on student loan payments

WASHINGTON – To encourage more students to enter medical professions, Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers has introduced the Medical Economic Deferment for Students (MEDS) Act. The bill would allow entering medical residents to defer payment on subsidized loans for up to three years without accruing interest, in certain circumstances.

      A rule existed to allow such a deferment for medical students called the 20/220 rule, which allows students to defer payment without interest if their debt burden is greater than 20 percent of their income, and the difference of their income and debt burden is less than 220 percent of the federal poverty level.  Unfortunately, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act will eliminate the 20/220 rule on July 1, 2009, and this assistance for medical students will cease.

      “Increasing the debt burden for residents will discourage the best and brightest students from entering the medical profession,” said Congressman Ehlers. “There is a growing consensus that there is a shortage of physicians in the United States, and making it harder for students to enter the medical profession will only make things worse.”

      In its latest report in 2005, the Council on Graduate Medical Education predicts a shortage of 85,000 physicians by the year 2020. Eliminating the 20/220 rule complicates the student debt burden for residents, discouraging them from studying medicine. West Michigan is building a growing economic base around the medical field.

      “West Michigan has one of the most robust health and science industries in the country, and it is strengthened by Grand Valley State University’s Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences and Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine,” added Ehlers. “This bill will help those institutions recruit students from around the world, and will help solidify West Michigan as a world-class center for health care.”

      Supporters of the bill include Michigan State University, which recently relocated its College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids. “Medical school debt is a significant and growing concern in medical education,” said MSU College of Human Medicine Dean Marsha Rappley. “The high debt burden that many medical school graduates face may influence them to choose a career in areas other than primary care, public health, medically underserved communities, medical education, or research.

      “This legislation will help address those concerns, and assure the increasing debt loads incurred by medical students do not become an insurmountable burden during residency education.”