The two family practice doctors, who work at Clinica Campesina, a community health center near Denver, are among about 350 doctors this year who accepted lower-paying jobs at clinics and hospitals in poor or underserved areas in hopes of getting medical student loan repayment from the National Health Service Corps. But they've both been informed by NHSC that they won't get any fiscal year 2000 money and will have to reapply to be considered for fiscal year 2001 funds. Applicants vastly exceeded funding this year, NHSC officials said. But that won't help Drs. Chavez and Fellenz.
Doctors sacrifice a lot to go someplace to serve the poor.
In exchange, they expect their loans to be paid off. Dr. Saver, who spent 10 years with the corps in rural Newburg, W.Va., and now specializes in geriatrics in Vero Beach, Fla., said the federal government had broken its implicit promise to pay student loans if primary care physicians live and work in underserved areas. Every year we run out of money. For starters, the NHSC's 10-year reauthorization expired Sept. 30. Second, NHSC's budget has remained flat the past five years, and congressional support for increased funding is mired in election-year politics.