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The Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025 (the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill passed in July) called for some changes in student loan programs that will adversely affect a number of health care professionals in certain fields. Some of these fields are already very short staffed, such as nursing.
The Department of Education has called for the removal of a number of professions from the list of occupations that qualify for student loan assistance. It plans to create a new plan, under which only students pursuing a “professional” degree can borrow up to $50,000 annually. Notably absent from the list of professions that qualify are nursing, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists, and social workers. Currently, the new measures are scheduled to be implemented by the Department of Education starting July 1, 2026.
Due in part to an aging population with a greater need for healthcare, we already have a shortage of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, especially in rural areas. Should this come to pass, our hospitals and medical offices, already having great difficulty finding workers in these professions, would find it even harder. How many of us, either routinely or occasionally, experience significant difficulty in getting an appointment with our primary care health provider?
You can help avert this impending slow motion train wreck. Contact all of your members of Congress to make them aware of this situation, letting them know how it will make it harder for talented Mainers of modest means to enter these life-saving professions, and how we need more well-trained medical personnel in these professions, not fewer, and that this is where the federal government can actually make our lives better, and healthier.
Bob Lodato
Charleston
