Med School Grads May Have to Pay For Federal Funds

Students graduating from schools in health-related fields may be required to pay back up to $8300 in federal grants or work for a period of time in medically understaffed areas under a Health Manpower Act now before the Senate.

Dr. Robert S. Blacklow '55, associate Medical School, said yesterday if the law is passed Med School graduates will have to pay back a total of $8300 and $2000 grants from the federal government that each student will receive yearly during the four-year medical program.

Work

Under the bill, the student must be willing to work for as many years as the Med School received grants subsidizing his education if he does not repay the amount of the grant.

Blacklow said students can offer their services to the National Health Service Corps or a similar state-run organization and work in areas short of medical personnel such as prisons and Indian Reservations to pay back the grants.

Money

He said under the proposed bill the Med School cannot qualify for the grants unless it "increases enrollment by ten students per incoming class, or else develops an offsite training program for 300 students in a remote area" to encourage practicing in underdeveloped places.

Michael F. Brewer, assistant to the vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday if a student at the medical, dental or public health schools "refuses to sign a pre-admissions agreement to pay back federal grants or work, instead, in medically understaffed areas after graduating, Harvard must either reject that student or forego capitation under the proposed bill."

The Health Manpower Act. passed in July by the House of Representatives, authorizes federal funding for students of medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, public health, veterinary medicine, podiatry, optometry and pharmacy.

A Senate subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare is holding hearings on the controversial pay-back provisions, but last week broke for a recess until Labor Day.

Harold Leigh, legislative analyst of the Bureau of Health Manpower, said yesterday one version of the pay-back provision requires students entering health schools to sign an agreement making them liable for mandatory remote-site services starting two years after their health school training ends, contingent upon a lottery selection process.

Blacklow said yesterday the modified version of the Bill that was accepted by the House will probably be hardest on students from middle and low-income brackets. "The extremely wealthy would be most able to buy their way out of the requirements," he said.

Blacklow also said he is worried that the proposed law will discourage many qualified students from lower income backgrounds from even applying to medical school