Two senators have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase the addiction care workforce through a student loan debt relief program.
The legislation from Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., would reauthorize and double the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program, according to a Nov. 8 news release.
The authorization on the program, which the two senators helped create, expired Sept. 30. The bill would double its authorization from $25 million to $50 million and make the loan payments tax exempt.
The program aims to recruit a strong mental healthcare workforce of physicians, nurses, social workers and mental health workers to combat the opioid epidemic across the country, the release said.