John, I'm a doctor in New York City. I spent the last two weeks treating adult patients with COVID-19, something I was never trained for. I'm also over $300,000 in debt. Every evening, thousands of Americans are applauding for front line healthcare workers, and we truly appreciate it. But it would be nice if the government showed the same appreciation. We're exposed to an extremely high degree of risk in this pandemic. At my hospital alone, we've had multiple nurses and doctors forced out of work after contracting COVID-19, some severely enough to require a ventilator. That's why I'm asking for your help. We shouldn't have to risk our lives just to drown in debt. We need the government to cancel our student loan debt, now. Click to help me cancel student loan debt for frontline workers I'm by no means alone: last year, the average debt of a medical student was over $200,000. Graduating nursing students, who are paid significantly less than doctors, average over $50,000 in debt. And most of that debt is owned by the government, acting just like a big bank, making big profits off our huge loans while we serve and care for and treat people. Over the last 6 years I've often worked 80 hours a week in public hospitals. My salary has at times amounted to less than $10 per hour. I went to school for a decade, and now have to work for at least another decade just to pay off the debt to my own government. It's extremely tough. Forgiving our student loans is the type of support that healthcare workers -- many of whom are young professionals in their 20s and 30s -- need to meet our present challenges and bolster our future security. We already do this for other "frontline fighters" -- many people in the military can access free college tuition, and the latest GI Bill provides free tuition payments for anyone who has served in active duty. What politician would dare say that we, healthcare workers, haven't earned the right to a free education, which has already been plenty put to use by saving countless lives in this pandemic? Please join me in calling for debt relief for all frontline workers Freeing us from student debt would have a tremendous impact on our lives and on the country after the crisis. It would allow many of us to work in under-served rural and urban areas and opt for lower-paying but critical specialties like family practice. It would mean we could be something other than indentured servants to the government and the medical insurance industry. Politicians are quick to praise us, but until they act on the one thing within their power that most affects us in the long term, it's all just lip service. We deserve better: Demand debt relief for frontline COVID-19 workers  Thanks for all that you do, |
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