Rural America Health Corps Act

Key Points

• This bill creates a demonstration program where the federal government pays off student loans for healthcare workers who agree to work full-time in rural areas with too few providers. Participants must be eligible for the existing National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program but not already enrolled in it.
• Healthcare workers must commit to 5 years of full-time work in a rural health professional shortage area. For each year they complete, the government pays one-fifth of their outstanding loan balance, with the remainder covered after year five.
• The maximum loan repayment per person is $200,000. This is designed to make it financially realistic for doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to choose rural communities over higher-paying urban jobs.
• Congress would authorize $50 million per year for five years (2027 through 2031) to fund the program, totaling $250 million. After 5 years, HHS must report to Congress on whether the program actually improved healthcare access in rural areas.
• The bill has bipartisan support from both Republican and Democratic senators, including Blackburn, Durbin, Murkowski, Peters, and Capito. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.