Meeting Public Comments

Jacob Groen []

What a fantastic bill, I am in full support. BLT! Bornlivedtrained! Vast majority of physicians will settle their careers in BLT, and unfortunately Iowa is losing so many psychiatrists who train here. Physicians finish training with bona fide roots where we train, and training in Iowa is a major draw to stay for our early career and raise our families here. I moved here from WA and never imagined wanting to live here until after living here for 3.5 years, but now I do! Unfortunately, my residency offers zero retirement match and very limited incentives to transition to practice into Iowa. I get paid better elsewhere, moving bonuses galore, and easier to get loan forgiveness for my $400k student loans in other states/systems. The $50k annually is just enough to potentially tip the scale from competitive salaries elsewhere and make me seriously consider Iowa. Its still on the low end to be honest. Anything less, or decreasing the cap below $200k, and this would weaken the incentive to stay. This bill is excellent and I appreciate that there arent limitations on practice location or other details. Anti DEI laws are putting a drain on recruiting medical student candidates to apply to residency here, and yet many candidates still like Iowa for many reasons like cost of living. This bill helps us show tangible evidence to candidates were recruiting that Iowa values mental health care and its great to be a psychiatrist in Iowa. Im afraid of how regulating this bill with more limitations could change it into something less effective because as it stands is excellent. an Iowa psychiatry resident