AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, issued the following statement regarding the U.S. District Court decision to block the administration’s $100,000 fee on H1-B visa applications:
“The AAMC applauds the U.S. District Court decision blocking the administration’s proposal to charge employers who wish to hire foreign workers for specialized, high-skill roles – including physicians, medical researchers, and other health professionals – a $100,000 fee. If allowed to stand, the fee on new H-1B visas will worsen the nation’s existing physician shortage, further strain the health care workforce, and exacerbate shortages of highly skilled professionals at academic medical centers and universities because U.S.-trained professionals will not meet the demand. This will ultimately jeopardize patient access to care.
Our country needs qualified H-1B professionals for our citizens to have access to health care services and national health security, and they are particularly critical in rural and medically underserved communities. Physicians, medical researchers, and other professionals are the cornerstone of America’s health care system, with hundreds of millions of patient encounters, millions of visits and procedures, and countless lives saved due to preventive health services and scientific breakthroughs. Alongside their American colleagues, H-1B visa holders play a critical role in each of these occupations at teaching hospitals, academic health systems, and in rural and medically underserved communities across the United States. They are inextricable to putting the health and safety of this country first.”