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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2332 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2332

  To amend the Peace Corps Act and the National and Community Service 
     Trust Act to increase the affordability of medical education.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2009

 Mr. McMahon (for himself, Mr. Sarbanes, and Mr. Connolly of Virginia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
   Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To amend the Peace Corps Act and the National and Community Service 
     Trust Act to increase the affordability of medical education.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Future Physicians Serving America 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) A predicted shortage of 124,000 physicians by 2025 will 
        affect all medical specialties.
            (2) An aging and growing population will increase demand on 
        all health professionals.
            (3) Median debt of $155,000 for medical school graduates 
        poses a significant hardship for new physicians and places a 
        strain on the health care system.
            (4) Providing members of the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps 
        with support for medical education is consistent with the 
        values of these programs and the United States.
            (5) Increasing medical school enrollment of members of the 
        Peace Corps and AmeriCorps will improve the supply, 
        distribution, diversity, and quality of physicians in the 
        health care workforce by--
                    (A) providing low-income individuals with the 
                opportunity to attend medical school at a lower cost;
                    (B) lowering the overall cost of medical school and 
                the debt burden of medical school graduates;
                    (C) increasing the cultural diversity of medical 
                schools and the physician workforce; and
                    (D) increasing the number of physicians with a 
                demonstrated interest in rural and inner city 
                populations.

SEC. 3. PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS.

    (a) Medical Education Assistance Benefits.--Section 5 of the Peace 
Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 2504) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(o) For each year of service, as defined under section 26(e), a 
volunteer who is accepted for enrollment, or enrolled, in a course of 
study or program at any accredited public or nonprofit private 
hospital, school of medicine or osteopathic medicine within the United 
States for the purpose of undergraduate medical education shall be 
granted tuition assistance for a maximum of two years. The President 
shall determine the amount of such assistance, to be not less than 50 
percent but not more than 100 percent of the cost of such tuition 
incurred by such volunteer.''.
    (b) Use of Funds.--Section 15 of the Peace Corps Act (22 U.S.C. 
2514) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Funds made available for the purposes of this Act may be used 
for tuition assistance in accordance with subsection (o) of section 5, 
if the volunteer described in such subsection is accepted for 
enrollment, or remains enrolled full-time in a course of study or 
program described in such subsection within three years of the 
completion of service by such volunteer.''.

SEC. 4. PROVIDING EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE TO AMERICORPS VOLUNTEERS.

    Section 147 of the National and Community Service Trust Act (42 
U.S.C. 12603), as amended by the Serve America Act, is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(f) Amount for National Service for Individuals Entering the 
Study of Medicine.--
            ``(1) Full-time volunteers.--Except as provided in 
        subsection (c), an individual described in section 146(a) who 
        successfully completes a required term of full-time national 
        service in an approved national service position and enters a 
        course of study or program at any accredited public or 
        nonprofit private hospital, school of medicine or osteopathic 
        medicine within the United States for the purpose of 
        undergraduate medical education shall receive a national 
        service educational award having a value, for each of not more 
        than 2 of such terms of service, equal to no less than 50 
        percent, nor to exceed 100 percent of the cost of tuition 
        incurred by such individual.
            ``(2) Part-time volunteers.--Except as provided in 
        subsection (c), an individual described in section 146(a) who 
        successfully completes a required term of part-time national 
        service in an approved national service position and enters a 
        course of study or program at any accredited public or 
        nonprofit private hospital, school of medicine or osteopathic 
        medicine within the United States for the purpose of 
        undergraduate medical education shall receive a national 
        service educational award having a value, for each of not more 
        than 2 of such terms of service, equal to 50 percent of value 
        of the national service educational award determined under 
        paragraph (1).''.
                                 <all>
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