The American Medical Association and scores of specialty groups are urging the Trump administration to exempt foreign doctors from steep new fees for H-1B visas, saying the charges will exacerbate physician shortages, worsen patient care and drive up health care costs.
Doctors from abroad make up nearly one quarter of the physician work force in the United States. They provide much of the staffing in rural and underserved areas of the country, and many fill positions in important areas of medicine that are often shunned by U.S.-trained physicians, like primary care, psychiatry and pediatrics.
Many of the doctors are in the United States on H-1B visas, which permit educated foreign citizens to work in “specialty occupations.” President Trump this week announced plans to charge $100,000 for each new H-1B visa.
“If a hospital needs 50 foreign residents and it’s $100,000 for each one, that’s $5 million, and that’s not going to happen,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the president of the American Medical Association. “There will be shortages.”
The cost, borne by employers, will be burdensome to hospitals and health care systems, he added. Most operate as nonprofits, and in rural areas many are reducing services or closing.
If exemptions to the fee are not made for physicians coming from abroad to care for Americans, Dr. Mukkamala said, “spots at hospitals will not be filled. Wait times will go up, and people will wait even longer at emergency departments.”
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