Our big bright future, and….Debt.
Good morning on this May 1st, 2009, and good bye debt! Does the burden of debt loom over your head and weigh you down more than your book-laden backpack? Do you wish that the price of going to school didn’t cost you your dreams of being a family doc? Do you want to contribute your skills as a physician and serve your local and global communities, but just can’t afford to take the time off???? Make your voice heard, and email your congressman. Let them know we’re drowning in debt, and will not take it anymore. Below is an action alert from Mary-Carol at AMSA.
Dear AMSA,
This last March, a few of our Representatives and Senators stood up to decrease the educational debt burden for future physicians by introducing a bill that would reinstate a pathway to defer loan repayment until after residency for the majority of medical residents.
This May, Congress is writing a huge piece of legislation that will reform our health care system – and impact our chosen career field for decades to come.
Your Senators and Representative need to hear from you that the cost of medical education must be addressed in this legislation.
Sound pretty good to be able to defer your loans during residency if you’re having trouble paying them? Well, don’t get used to it – as your school’s financial offices should have told you, last summer, the passage of the College Cost Reduction Act terminated this pathway for loan deferment.
As AMSA members, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to make medicine a feasible field for students from all walks of life – we need to remove the burden of intimidating student debt from the equation. Congress needs to hear from you that reinstating the economic hardship deferral pathway is a good thing, and that including comprehensive measures to decrease the cost of medical education in this month’s health reform legislation will be even better.
Thanks – let’s see this through!
– Mary Carol
Do your part to include medical school debt in the upcoming health care reform.
About The Author
Susan Lewis
Susan Lewis is a second year medical student at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago Medical School. She has been president of her school PHR chapter for two years. Susan has participated in AMSA's PharmFree Conference, Global Health Leadership Institute and Integrative Medicine Conference. She plans to pursue a career in community/primary care medicine, focusing on eliminating health disparities, especially among the marginalized and indigenous population, within the context of integrative medicine. Her lifetime goal is to become an informed and compassionate contributing member of the global society and local community, in which she may continually gain and give passion for healthy, harmonious and whole living, within all facets of life. Susan is also a writer for her university newspaper and is a regular contributer of FM Mag, an independent culture magazine from Denver, Colorado. She joined Global Pulse in 2009.
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Author his web sitehttp://www.globalpulsejournal.com
From last week’s article in the NYTimes:
Shortage of Doctors an Obstacle to Obama Goals