Senators Sanders and Merkley Introduce Sweeping Healthcare Workforce Legislation
Published October 07, 2025
By AACOM Government Relations
Advocacy Federal Policy GME GME Funding Healthcare Workforce Higher Education OME Advocate Rural Medicine
- On September 30, 2025, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Health Care Workforce Expansion Act to address the shortage of doctors, dentists and nurses across the country.
- The legislation would make nonprofit medical school tuition free for students who commit to practicing primary care for at least 10 years and provide more than $5 billion in grants to medical, nursing and dental schools to increase enrollment, recruit and retain faculty and modernize facilities.
- The bill would also support physician training and practice by creating more than 50,000 new slots for the Medicare Graduate Medical Education program, with 30 percent allocated to primary care and 15 percent to psychiatry residencies, expand the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program by adding 15,000 new community-based primary care residency positions and provide $20,000 relocation grants to doctors, dentists and nurses who agree to practice in rural communities.
- AACOM has endorsed the Health Care Workforce Expansion Act, though prospects for movement in the current Congress appear limited. View the bill text and fact sheet for more information.