A new study has found that one in five medical students in the U.S. struggles with food insecurity, highlighting how financial pressures are already weighing heavily on the next generation of physicians. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Budget Act (OBBBA), which enacts nearly $1 trillion in federal health care cuts, threatens to exacerbate these challenges by slashing funding streams critical to both medical education and the institutions that support it.
Academic medical centers—already vulnerable under shrinking reimbursements—are among the hardest hit. Federal cuts will strain teaching hospitals that train residents and provide essential safety-net care. At the same time, OBBBA’s restrictions on student loan borrowing could cap how much medical students can access to finance their education, worsening debt pressures and forcing many to make difficult trade-offs between paying tuition, covering housing costs, or affording groceries.
Higher education institutions more broadly, including medical schools, face cuts to federal support under OBBBA that could reduce scholarships, research funding, and operational stability. For a field where the median medical resident salary remains just over $64,000, a modest figure given the length and intensity of training, the ripple effects are stark. Students are being asked to carry more financial burden at a time when the U.S. needs physicians more than ever.
The American Medical Association has already raised concerns that federal funding reductions under OBBBA threaten to worsen workforce shortages by discouraging students from entering medicine or forcing them to drop out.
Key Takeaways for Health System Leaders
- Monitor workforce pipelines: Cuts to teaching hospitals and financial strain on medical students could slow recruitment of new clinicians. Health systems should factor this into workforce planning.
- Invest in student and resident support: Partner with local medical schools to offer stipends, housing assistance, or meal support to mitigate food insecurity and retention challenges.
- Advocate for sustainable funding: Work collectively with associations to urge Congress and the administration to protect funding for medical education and training pipelines.
- Plan for downstream effects: Shortages in residency and training slots could intensify staffing shortages in high-need specialties, especially in rural and underserved areas.
The OBBBA represents a generational shift in how the government funds health care and education. For medical students already juggling heavy debt and basic needs insecurity, its impact may push the physician pipeline to a breaking point.