A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced legislation to expand the Conrad 30 waiver program, which incentivizes foreign medical school graduates to work in underserved U.S. communities. These physicians help alleviate staffing shortages in rural areas and have served at least 44 million Americans since 1994.
Congress should go even further. COVID-19 was a sobering reminder that chronic understaffing risks patients’ lives. As America struggles to fill more than 1.6 million doctor, nurse, and other health care staff vacancies, we need to lift the arbitrary caps on how many qualified foreigners can enter the country and help.
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