Student loan rule change could cut pipeline of healthcare providers, PAs warn

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Scripps News

Posted 9:50 AM, May 23, 2026


Changes by the Trump administration involving student loans could contribute to a shortage of doctors and nurses in the coming years, Todd Pickard, president and chair of the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Physician Associates, warned.

The Department of Education is updating its definition of professional degrees. Under the new rule, students studying to become physician associates (PAs) would no longer be eligible for higher levels of federal student loans. PA programs require a master’s degree, thousands of hours of clinical training and a license in every state.

Physical therapy, occupational therapy, advanced nursing and several other medical fields have also been reclassified from professional degrees to general graduate degrees. Under the change, students in these programs would be limited to $20,500 annually and $100,000 total in federal loans, compared with up to $50,000 a year and higher lifetime limits previously.

Pickard said the move could make these degrees inaccessible for many prospective students. “I’m most concerned about decreasing the pipeline of health care providers in the United States,” he said. “At a time when we should be investing in health care, divesting is not the right answer. Patients should expect that if there are fewer providers, it will take them longer to be seen, and their health conditions may worsen.”

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/education/student-loan-rule-change-could-cut-pipeline-of-healthcare-providers-pas-warn

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Pickard recently appeared on The Hill's broadcast affiliate "NewsNation" with those remarks - https://www.newsnationnow.com/video/%E2%80%98not-the-time-to-divest%E2%80%99-in-healthcare-physician-associates-president-morning-in-america/11812870/

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. They want us to die.

Disgraceful.

[AZJonnie]

2. Exactly my thought, oft-expressed

They.Want.You.To.Die

And Xi and Putin are probably behind it in the end

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. It's already difficult enough to get an appointment with a healthcare provider.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Xi and Putin are thrilled that they can kill so many Americans without firing a shot.

They are true evil geniuses.

They wage war against the US and no one even knows it.

[live love laugh]

5. It's bad enough that you barely see actual physicians

because of physician associates (PAs) and nurse practitioners. Now we won’t even have them. Plus Trump cut medical student visas adding to the problem. In. Sane.

[not fooled]

6. The tech psychopaths think there are too many people

and don't want to pay taxes to provide healthcare for us.

Anyone who votes for this (or remains willfully ignorant of politics so they don't have to think about what's going on) is on some level committing suicide, slowly but surely. And unfortunately dragging the rest of us down with them.