OME Advocate Newsletter

Following months of congressional action, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, was signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, enacting sweeping changes to higher education policies impacting osteopathic medical students and schools. The bill narrowly passed the Senate on July 1 by a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Vance breaking the tie. It then returned to the House and passed 218-214 on July 3 after hours of intense negotiations.

Since January, AACOM led a targeted advocacy effort to:

• Maintain the Grad PLUS and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Programs
• Oppose loan caps and harmful risk-sharing proposals
• Secure interest deferment for medical residents

Our comprehensive strategy included:

• Meetings with House and Senate offices and committees, plus an OME advocacy fly-in
• Direct engagement by COM leaders with Congress
• National media outreach through The New York Times, Axios, Politico and The Guardian
• Mobilizing more than 10,000 messages to Congress through our Action Center
• Broad stakeholder coordination and advocacy

The enacted bill includes the following provisions relevant to osteopathic medicine:

• The Grad PLUS Loan Program will be eliminated for new borrowers starting July 1, 2026. Borrowers who received a Grad PLUS loan for their current program of study retain eligibility under the existing terms.
• New loan caps starting July 1, 2026
• Professional loan annual cap: $50,000
• Professional loan total cap: $200,000
• Lifetime federal loan cap: $257,500
• A new accountability formula starting July 1, 2026, which will evaluate graduate earnings four years after program completion, comparing median professional degree holders to undergraduate earners aged 25-34. Programs that fail this earnings benchmark in two out of three years will lose Title IV eligibility for at least two years.
• Time spent in medical residency or internships will continue to count towards PSLF eligibility. Prior legislation included a provision to eliminate this eligibility.

Although we were not successful in all areas, AACOM's joint advocacy yielded substantial improvements to the original House and Senate proposals including:

• Raising professional loan caps to $200,000 (up from $135-150k)
• Replacing institutional risk-sharing with a less harmful accountability model
• Preserving PSLF eligibility during medical residency and internship

Despite these improvements, AACOM maintains ongoing concerns with key provisions. We strongly oppose the elimination of the Grad PLUS Program and new loan caps that may limit access for disadvantaged students. AACOM is committed to working with Congress and the Department of Education (ED) to further alleviate harm and pursue legislative fixes where needed.

Read our analysis of key changes and advocacy impacts. Stay tuned for our upcoming FAQ and register for our webinar today.

Be part of two dynamic days of virtual advocacy. Last year, more than 300 advocates joined forces for more than 180 meetings with Congress—advancing legislation on residency access and rural training.

Key Details:

• Two hours per day
• Fully virtual and free
• Register by August 1 to get the best schedule with your congressional offices
• Open to the entire OME community

Visit the Advocacy Day page for the latest updates and register today!

More than 50 national and state healthcare organizations have signed our letter in support of the Community Training, Education, and Access for Medical Students (Community TEAMS) Act, H.R. 3885, reintroduced by U.S. Representatives Carol Miller (R-WV), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Sam Graves (R-MO) and Troy Carter (D-LA) on June 10, 2025.

Through a new Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant program, this bill will allow medical schools to partner with Federally Qualified Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics and other healthcare facilities located in medically underserved communities to increase medical school clinical rotations. Building strong organizational support is critical to advancing this important bill through Congress. Leaders can sign their organizations on to the letter using this form. Advocates can urge Congress to support H.R. 3885 through our Action Center.

Take ActionSign the Organization Letter

• Negotiators met June 30–July 2, 2025, but failed to agree on regulatory changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.
• The draft regulatory language released in advance would amend the PSLF regulations to ensure that the definition of a qualifying employer excludes organizations that engage in activities that have a “substantial illegal purpose,” in accordance with a March 2025 executive order (EO) issued by President Trump. Employees of newly disqualified organizations, according to the draft regulations, would lose PSLF eligibility and would need to switch employers to continue progressing toward loan forgiveness.
• With no consensus reached, ED is not bound by the committee’s input and will move forward with its own draft regulations, which will be subject to a public comment period before finalization.

• ED recently announced that interest accrual on the Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan will restart on August 1, 2025.
• The SAVE plan, created under the Biden Administration, had been struck down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and since then, millions of borrowers had remained in forbearance with no interest accrual.
• No payments will be required until forbearance ends, but interest accrual begins in a few weeks. The reconciliation package, P.L. 119-21, eliminated the SAVE plan, and ED will work with borrowers to switch to one of two available repayment plans.

• On July 9, 2025, the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted along party lines to advance Susan Monarez, PhD, as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Dr. Monarez was named CDC acting director earlier this year and became the official nominee in March when President Trump pulled the nomination of David Weldon, MD, his first choice to lead the agency.
• Full Senate confirmation is pending, with no vote date announced. Dr. Monarez would be the first CDC director confirmed by the Senate under a new law passed in 2023.