The U.S. is facing a steep and growing health care worker shortage.

A federal analysis last year projected that by 2038, 30 out of 35 physicians' specialties will have a shortage.

Overall, it's expected the U.S. will be short

over 140,000 physicians and short over 108,000 nurses. That stark projection comes as states

and medical associations say new caps on student loans will make this shortage worse. Last week,

25 states, plus the District of Columbia

filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education over new federal student loan limits on graduate

degrees, including health care degrees. Of particular concern, advanced nursing degrees.

The president of the American Nurses Association said in a statement, quote,

this rule will be felt in real communities, for example, in rural areas where nurse practitioners,

midwives, and nurse anesthesiologists are often the only providers of core care services.

But Education Secretary Linda McMahon says these worries are overblown and that these new rules

aim to force colleges to lower tuition rates. Over 90% of the nursing graduate programs in our

country can be achieved for less than $100,000. $100,000 under this bill is the cap for the

graduate program as it is defined by Congress. And so, therefore,

one of the goals, hopefully, hopefully is to help colleges see these incredible costs of colleges,

that 10% that's not doing it, and help bring college costs down. I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast.

Today, what could these changes mean for the future of our health care workforce and care in the

U.S.? We'll look into that and more after this short break. Stay with us.

Welcome back to the 1A podcast.

We're talking about the changes to student loan caps under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

and how they will affect the future of health care.

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