Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney from New York has introduced the Student Loan Forgiveness for Frontline Health Workers Act. The timing is perfect, considering the fact that it is National Nurses Week.

Maloney hopes that the elimination of student loan debt entices healthcare workers to jump into the coronavirus response efforts. The Student Loan Forgiveness for Frontline Health Workers Act is for nurses, doctors, medical researchers, lab workers, and basically any health care professional who is out on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis.

We have so many of our friends and family members that have answered the call to help out in New Jersey and New York. The hazard pay is nothing to sneeze at after the governor of New York asked the federal government to provide a whopping 50% hazard pay bonus for "essential public workers".

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According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, on average, doctors leave medical school with debt that could buy you a house. Imagine leaving school knowing you have over $200,000 in student loans. This makes hazard pay sound like nickels and dimes. Most doctors and nurses from middle to low-income households rely on student loans to be able to become healthcare professionals.

A majority of healthcare workers can't start their careers without taking on the immense debt. Could this proposed bill help influence many doctors and nurses to answer the desperate call of the COVID-19 frontlines? I would think that the Student Loan Forgiveness for Frontline Health Workers Act will motivate nurses, doctors, and several other health care professionals to answer the call to the Coronavirus battlefields all over the U.S.

 

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