42 U.S.C. § 295h — Loan repayment program for substance use disorder treatment workforce

(a) In general. The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, must run this program. The Secretary signs agreements with individuals. Under each agreement, the Secretary pays money toward the person's loan under the rules in (b). In return, the person agrees to work in substance use disorder treatment, following the rules in (d). (b) Payments. For each year a person serves under their agreement, the Secretary pays them money. (1) Service in a shortage area. For each of the first five years, the Secretary pays one-sixth of the loan's principal and interest that was still owed on the day the person started serving. After the sixth and final year, the Secretary pays whatever principal and interest is left. (2) Maximum amount. No person can receive more than $250,000 total under this program. (c) Eligible loans. The following loans qualify for repayment: (1) Any loan for education or training for substance use disorder treatment work. (2) Nursing student loans under a specific part of the law. (3) Certain federal direct loans: Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, and Consolidation Loans. (4) Federal Perkins Loans. (5) Any other federal loan the Secretary decides should count. (d) Requirements of service. A person getting payments must commit, every year, to full-time work in substance use disorder treatment somewhere in the United States. No more than one year can pass between two years of qualifying work. The work must be in: (1) a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area, or (2) a county (or a city or town not inside any county) where, over the last three years of official state data, the average drug overdose death rate per 100,000 people is higher than the most recent national average reported by the CDC. (e) Ineligibility for double benefits. A person cannot get credit for the same service under both this program and another federally supported loan forgiveness program, including several other named programs. (f) Breach. (1) Liquidated damages formula. The Secretary may set up a formula for damages if someone breaks their service agreement. (2) Limitation. Simply not finishing every year of promised service is not, by itself, a breach — as long as the person served in good faith the years they were already paid for. (g) Additional criteria. The Secretary may add extra rules and criteria beyond what this section already says, and must notify the congressional committees named in (h) whenever new rules are set. (h) Report to Congress. Starting five years after October 24, 2018, and every two years after that, the Secretary must send a report to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The report must cover: (1) how many borrowers have qualified for loan repayment under this program, and where they are; and (2) how this program has affected the number of substance use disorder treatment workers available nationally and in shortage areas and high-overdose counties. (i) Definitions. (1) "Indian tribe" and "tribal organization" mean what those terms mean in a separate cross-referenced law. (2) "Municipality" means a city, town, or other public body created under state law, or an Indian tribe. (3) "Substance use disorder treatment employment" means full-time work, including a fellowship, that meets two tests: (A) The job's main purpose is treating patients with substance use disorders or supporting their recovery. This includes master's-level social workers, psychologists, counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric mental health practitioners, occupational therapists, psychology doctoral interns, behavioral health paraprofessionals, and licensed or certified physicians, physician assistants, and nurses. (B) The job is located at one of many listed settings — for example, a treatment program, private medical practice, hospital-affiliated treatment center, correctional facility, youth detention program, psychiatric facility, community health center, school, telehealth platform, tribal health program, federal medical facility, or any other place the Secretary approves. (j) Authorization of appropriations. Congress may spend $40,000,000 each year, for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, to run this program.