Jul 13, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) introduced legislation Thursday to allow federal student loan borrowers who are diagnosed with cancer to defer payment of their student loans while they are undergoing treatment. Nearly 70,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. While current law allows borrowers to defer their student loans due to economic hardship caused by medical treatment, it does not stop the interest from accruing on those loans during that time. The legislation Nelson introduced this week, known as the Deferment for Active Cancer Treatment Act, would make borrowers diagnosed with cancer eligible for a deferment on their payments and would suspend the accrual of interest until six months after the patient has finished receiving treatment. “Tens of thousands of young adults are diagnosed with cancer each year,” Nelson said. “This bill will help them focus on getting healthy, instead of worrying about how they are going to pay back their student loans.” An identical version of Nelson’s bill was introduced last year in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) Nelson’s bill now heads to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for consideration.
