MEDICAL LOANS: HHS RELEASES LIST OF ‘DEADBEAT DOCS’
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala yesterdayThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
released the names of 1,402 health care professionals who are
being disqualified from the Medicare and Medicaid programs
because they have repeatedly ignored collection efforts on their
student loans. In total, the defaulters owe more than $107
million in Health Education Assistance Loans. Their names will
be published in the Federal Register this week and are available
on the Internet. Shalala said, "Health care professionals who
have defaulted on taxpayer-supported education loans should not
be collecting Medicare or Medicaid payments. ... They must pay up
or lose out." The names of the defaulters also have been
forwarded to the Department of Justice, which could pursue
litigation and seize wages, bank accounts and tax returns (HHS
release, 1/20).
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
The Los Angeles Times reports that "California's share of
deadbeat doctors far surpasses that of other states (Balli,
1/21). It has 304 professionals owing a total of $21,033,138,
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Georgia is next, with
108 doctors owing $8,750,185, followed by New York, with 104
owing $8,759,535; Texas, with 92 borrowers owing $7,062,828; and
Florida, with 74 owing $6,370,720 (Nesmith, 1/21). While more
than half of the defaulters are chiropractors, the list also
includes dentists, psychologists and podiatrists, as well as two
veterinarians and three health administration professionals.
LAST RESORT
The extreme measure of making the names public came only
after sustained efforts by the Health Resources and Services
Administration to collect outstanding loans, some of which are
more than 15 years old. The move has worked before: "after
similar disclosures in 1993 of the names of those who had failed
to pay... the government recovered about $32 million." Students
must exhaust all other student loan options before qualifying for
a HEAL loan. Since its establishment in 1979, the HEAL program
has helped more than 160,000 students pay for health education.
About 95% of recipients repay their loans, according to Dr.
Claude Earl Fox, acting administrator of HRSA, who urged doctors
on the list to contact HRSA (Los Angeles Times, 1/21). "We will
work out any reasonable payment schedule," he said. "All we're
asking for is a good faith effort at repayment." Yet according
to Newsday, some professionals say that "the department is not as
helpful as it says it is" (Smith, 1/21). Chiropractors in
particular complain that the lack of deferment for their debt --
a standard practice for chiropractors, unlike medical doctors --
makes it difficult for them to get their practices off the ground
and repay the money they owe, the Dallas Morning News reports
(Beil, 1/21).