To amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act to strengthen the mental health workforce, and for other purposes.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a mental-health provider loan deferment and forgiveness program. An eligible participant must be a student at a qualifying minority-serving institution, or be completing supervised clinical hours for a covered mental- or behavioral-health credential, and must accept qualifying employment beginning after graduation.
The participant must work full time for at least five years as a qualified mental-health provider. Service may be performed as a solo provider in a federally designated mental-health professional shortage area or at an institution serving patients located in such an area. During qualifying employment, scheduled principal installments need not be paid, although interest continues to accrue and must be paid.
After five consecutive years of qualifying service, the Secretary, acting through the loan holder, must repay the lesser of the participant's full outstanding eligible-loan balance or $200,000. The balance is measured immediately before the first service year. A participant in default on the loan is not eligible for forgiveness. Covered providers include psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse specialists, marriage and family therapists, mental-health physician assistants and advanced-practice nurses, clinical social workers, and mental-health counselors. Covered debt includes specified federal education loans and other federal loans approved by the Secretary.
Who Benefits and How
Eligible minority-serving institution students and supervised trainees receive principal-payment relief during service and up to $200,000 in loan repayment after completing the five-year commitment. Mental-health practices and institutions in shortage areas gain a recruitment incentive. Patients in underserved communities gain improved access when participating clinicians locate or remain in qualifying service areas. Education-loan holders receive federal repayment for balances that satisfy the program conditions.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Participants must accept full-time shortage-area employment, complete five consecutive years, remain out of default, and continue paying accrued interest. HHS workforce administrators must create contracts, verify credentials and locations, monitor continuous service, and coordinate repayment with loan holders. Federal health-workforce accounts bear the repayment costs. Minority-serving institution staff and clinical supervisors may face documentation requests from applicants proving enrollment or supervised training.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a mental-health provider loan deferment and forgiveness program.
- Restricts eligibility to specified minority-serving institution students and supervised trainees.
- Requires at least five consecutive years of full-time shortage-area service.
- Defers principal installments while requiring payment of accruing interest.
- Provides federal repayment of up to $200,000 after completed service.
- Excludes borrowers in default from loan forgiveness.
- Defines covered mental-health professions and eligible federal education loans.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a Health and Human Services loan-deferment and forgiveness program offering up to $200,000 after five consecutive years of full-time mental-health service in shortage areas to qualifying students or trainees from minority-serving institutions.
Key Policy Areas
Mental Health Workforce, Health Professional Loan Forgiveness, Workforce Shortage Areas, Minority-Serving Institutions, Behavioral Health Access
Primary Purpose
Creates a Health and Human Services loan-deferment and forgiveness program offering up to $200,000 after five consecutive years of full-time mental-health service in shortage areas to qualifying students or trainees from minority-serving institutions.
Policy Domains
Section 1 mental-health workforce loan relief
Identified Gains
- Eligible minority-serving institution students
- Supervised mental-health trainees
- Qualified clinicians completing five service years
- Mental-health practices in shortage areas
- Institutions serving shortage-area patients
- Patients in underserved mental-health communities
- Education-loan holders receiving federal repayment
Identified Costs
- Participants completing full-time service commitments
- Participants paying accrued loan interest
- Defaulted borrowers excluded from forgiveness
- HHS health-workforce program administrators
- Federal health-workforce repayment accounts
- Loan holders administering federal repayment
- Minority-serving institution enrollment staff
- Clinical supervisors documenting training hours
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Mr. Carter of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. Turner of Ohio, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Mental-health practices in shortage areas, Program participants completing five service years, Program participants meeting service rules
Defaulted education-loan borrowers, Eligible minority-serving institution students
Positive-direction: Eligible minority-serving institution students
Negative-direction: Defaulted education-loan borrowers
Federal health-workforce repayment accounts, HHS health-workforce administrators
Patients in mental-health shortage areas
Education-loan holders receiving federal repayment
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "creditor"
- → Holder of an eligible federal education loan
- "employer"
- → Institution serving patients in a mental-health shortage area
- "provider"
- → Qualified mental-health provider
- "participant"
- → Eligible minority-serving institution student or supervised trainee
- "administrator"
- → Secretary of Health and Human Services
Note: {'scope_ids': ['mental_health_workforce_relief'], 'description': 'Qualifying service suspends principal installments but does not suspend accruing interest, and forgiveness is unavailable to a borrower in default.'}
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A covered federal loan for mental- or behavioral-health education or training, including listed Direct and Perkins loans and other federal loans approved by the Secretary.
A listed psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse specialist, marriage and family therapist, mental-health advanced-practice clinician, clinical social worker, or mental-health counselor.
A student at a qualifying minority-serving institution, or a person completing supervised clinical hours there, who accepts qualifying mental-health employment beginning after graduation.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology