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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2007;298(22):2611.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The American Medical Association (AMA) asked the US Department of Education to extend medical student loan deferment based on economic hardship criteria. The organization said that a new law that went into effect on October 1 will require thousands of residents to begin making extremely large loan payments or go deeper into debt while completing their training.

The AMA made its request on October 29 in response to passage of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (HR 2669 [http://thomas.loc.gov]), which eliminated the deferment in anticipation of a new income-based loan repayment program that takes effect on July 1, 2009. "The rules are being changed midstream, which does not provide residents enough time to restructure their repayment plans," said Samantha L. Rosman, MD, a member of the AMA Board of Trustees.

The AMA proposed keeping the old deferment system in place until the new . . . [Full Text of this Article]