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Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1998
Medicare, Medicaid bars doctors who didn't repay student loans
By ALICE ANN LOVE
Associated PressWASHINGTON - More than 1,400 doctors and other health care workers who defaulted on student loans will no longer be reimbursed for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients.
``They must pay up or lose out,'' Donna Shalala, the secretary of health and human services, said Tuesday.
The names of the 1,402 defaulters - including 92 from Texas - were posted on the Internet Tuesday and will be published in the Federal Register. They include physicians, dentists, podiatrists, psychologists and health care administrators, the majority of whom borrowed money while in California, Florida, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. The largest group of practitioners on the list is chiropractors.
The defaulters owe more than $107 million, or an average $76,000 each, for health education assistance loans that helped pay their way through medical school or other health care training. The 92 health professionals from Texas owe $7 million - the fourth highest amount after California, New York and Georgia.
After collection attempts failed, the government, which guaranteed the loans, had to repay the banks and other financial institutions that lent the money, said Dr. Claude Earl Fox, acting administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the loan program.
Fox said each of the defaulters has been contacted repeatedly for at least three years and reported to credit bureaus and the Internal Revenue Service, which can withhold income tax refunds.
``They have clearly had sufficient warning,'' said Fox, adding, ``If they make any kind of good-faith effort to repay these loans, we work with them.''
Now - and until they repay their debts - the defaulters will be barred from serving the more than 74 million elderly, disabled and low-income Americans covered by the federal Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs.
The health professionals' names are being released, Fox said, in hopes that public pressure will also encourage them to pay up. They have also been reported to the Justice Department for possible prosecution and enforced collection through wage garnishment and seizure of bank accounts and property.
``We are taking tough measures,'' said Fox.
Since it was established in 1979, the loan program has helped more than 160,000 students pay for education in the health professions. The vast majority - 95 percent - honor their repayment obligations.
``We can't let a few bad-apple defaulters get away with taking advantage of the American public and bringing dishonor to their profession,'' Fox said.
As a result of two previous disclosures of the names of those who resist paying HEAL debts - in 1993 and 1995 - the government recovered about $32 million.
The list of caregivers identified as defaulters can be found on the Internet at www.defaulteddocs.dhhs.gov.Front Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web