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American Dental Education Association

Volume 2, No. 69, September 27, 2022

Congress Sends the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act to the President
 
From Jan. 1, 1993, until June 30, 2006, married couples were able to combine their student loan debt into joint consolidation loans. Both borrowers agreed at the time to be jointly liable for repayment. In practice, this proved to be problematic if one of the parties ever wanted to separate the loans because of marital separation due to abuse or abandonment, leaving that party with the responsibility to repay the debt with no legal options to separate them.
 
The bipartisan Joint Consolidation Loan Separation (JCLS) Act, S. 1098 [ [link removed] ] , will allow borrowers to submit an application to the Department of Education to split the joint consolidation loan into two separate federal direct loans. The joint consolidation loan remainder (unpaid principal, outstanding charges and fees and accrued unpaid interest) will be split proportionally based on the percentages that each borrower originally brought into the loan. The two new federal direct loans will have the same interest rates as the joint consolidation loan.
 
The legislation would allow two borrowers to submit a joint application to sever their joint consolidation loan or allow one borrower to submit a separate application in certain circumstances. Those separate applications would be available when:
 
•One borrower is the victim of domestic or economic abuse,
•One borrower has certified they are unable to reasonably reach or access the loan information of the other borrower or
•An individual application is deemed appropriate by the Secretary of Education.
 
President Biden supports the legislation and is expected to sign it.

CSG Releases Draft of Dentist and Dental Hygiene Licensure Compact
 
Licensure compacts [ [link removed] ] have become a popular method for increasing licensure portability among health professions. Recently, the Council for State Governments (CSG) released a draft of the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact [ [link removed] ] , that if enacted by states, could lead to greater licensure portability for individuals licensed in those professions.
 
Licensure compacts serve as a means for creating licensure reciprocity among states that join the compact. When states join, the compact license holders in compact states are granted the opportunity to apply for a “compact privilege” that will allow them to practice in another member state. Under the current draft of the compact, license holders will be granted the opportunity to apply for compact privilege if they:
 • Hold a license as a dentist or dental hygienist;
 • Graduate from a Commission on Dental Accreditation-accredited program;
 • Successfully complete a clinical assessment for licensure, with “clinical assessment” currently defined as an examination or process required for licensure as a dentist or dental hygienist as applicable, that provides evidence of clinical competence in dentistry or dental hygiene;
 • Have passed a National Board Examination of the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations or another examination accepted by rule as a requirement for licensure;
 • Meet any jurisprudence requirements;
 • Complete a criminal background check;
 • Submit an application and pay applicable fees; and
 • Comply with requirements to submit specified information for administrative purposes.

Compacts are overseen by commissions that consist of representation from each compact state. Commissions are granted the authority to grant “compact privilege” and create commission rules to which member states agree to comply. Under the current draft, a commission will be created to oversee the dentist and dental hygiene licensure compact after 10 states have joined the compact.
 
States can join a compact by passing substantially similar legislation. The final compact language will serve as model legislation that state legislatures can pass in order to join the compact.
 
CSG has requested feedback from stakeholders by Sept. 30.

LOAN ACT Introduced in House to Lower Cost of College Education
 
Last week, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Chairman of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the Lower Obstacles to Achievement Now (LOAN) Act [ [link removed] ] . The Act builds off President Biden’s Student Loan Relief package. This bill is one of the ways that the Democrats plan to address the root causes of the student debt crisis, including the declining value of the Pell Grant.
 
The LOAN Act would lower the cost of college for current and future student borrowers and their families. The legislation:
 
• Doubles the federal Pell Grant by increasing the max award over five years to $13,000, building on the $1,775 increase to the maximum award as proposed in President Biden’s budget;
• Improves the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program by shortening the time to forgiveness from 120 payments to 96 payments and broadly codifying the current PSLF waiver;
• Makes loans less expensive by expanding access to subsidized loans, limiting capitalization of interest, including after forbearance and deferment and creating a safety net for vulnerable borrowers; and
• Lowers interest rates by tying interest rates for all new federal student loans to the 10-year Treasury note but ensuring that no new loan will have an interest rate higher than 5 percent and allowing both federal and private borrowers to take advantage of these lower rates.

CMS Issues Proposed Rule Streamlining the Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment Process
 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Notice of Purposed Rulemaking [ [link removed] ] to streamline eligibility and enrollment in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Basic Health Program. Through this new rule, CMS hopes to increase access to coverage and save states time and money by reducing administrative burden.
 
The proposed rule would streamline the application and enrollment process and improve retention rates by
 • Clearly defining the types of eligibility determination information and documentation to be maintained by states,
 • Eliminating required in-person interviews,
 • Proposing specific timelines for states to complete Medicaid and CHIP renewals, including guidelines to ensure beneficiaries who return information late are properly evaluated for other eligibility groups prior to being terminated and
 • Conducting renewals no more than once every 12 months.

Comments are due on Nov. 7.

ADEA Advocacy in Action
This appears weekly in the ADEA Advocate to summarize and provide direct links to recent advocacy actions taken by ADEA. Please let us know what you think and how we might improve its usefulness.
 
Issues and Resources
 • ADEA memo [ [link removed] ] regarding vaccines at the state level
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on teledentistry
 • ADEA report [ [link removed] ] on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Dental Schools
 • ADEA policy brief [ [link removed] ] regarding overprescription of antibiotics
 • For a full list of ADEA memos, briefs and letters click here [ [link removed] ] .

ADEA U.S. Interactive Legislative and Regulatory Tracking Map [ [link removed] ]

Key Federal Issues [ [link removed] ]

Key State Issues [ [link removed] ]

The ADEA Advocate [ [link removed] ] is published weekly. Its purpose is to keep ADEA members abreast of federal and state issues and events of interest to the academic dentistry and the dental and research communities.
 
©2022
American Dental Education Association
655 K Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: 202-289-7201
Website: www.adea.org [ [link removed] ]

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B. Timothy Leeth, CPA
ADEA Chief Advocacy Officer
 
Bridgette DeHart, J.D.
ADEA Director of Federal Relations and Advocacy
 
Phillip Mauller, M.P.S.
ADEA Director of State Relations and Advocacy
 
Brian Robinson
ADEA Program Manager for Advocacy and Government Relations
 
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