**Medical Tuesday.**
— Chief_Engineer (@ChiefEngineerCE) September 22, 2026
There is a program called Conrad 30. Most people have never heard of it. Hospitals use it every year.
Here is the simple explanation of what is going on...
A foreign doctor often enters the U.S. on a training visa called a J-1. The old rule said when… pic.twitter.com/vxhw1z3cl5
There is a program called Conrad 30. Most people have never heard of it. Hospitals use it every year.
Here is the simple explanation of what is going on...
A foreign doctor often enters the U.S. on a training visa called a J-1. The old rule said when training ends, go home for two years. Conrad 30 waives that rule. Each state gets 30 of those waivers a year. The doctor agrees to work three years in a place labeled underserved. Then the hospital can keep them on a work visa.
Did you know they can then complain and get that waivered and then move on to wherever they want and most end up at these hospitals? Less than 15% of rural areas are served by them yet they should all be served by the numbers.
That is how a training visit becomes a career here without Congress adding a single new residency seat for an American graduate.
Now look at the bill with the long name. Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Reauthorization Act. 2025. Klobuchar and Collins in the Senate. Valadao and Schneider in the House. H.R. 1585 and S. 709.
It does not train more American doctors. It keeps Conrad alive, lets states hand out more than 30 waivers, makes it easier for the doctor’s family to stay, and moves those physicians up the line for a green card.
The hospital groups are on the letter. American Hospital Association. AMA. Teaching hospitals. They call it a rural fix. It has been the “temporary” fix for 30 years.
Meanwhile the 1997 cap on Medicare-paid residency slots is still sitting there. American grads still hit that wall. The bill in front of Congress is more waivers, not more seats.
If your town cannot find a doctor, ask why they will expand the foreign waiver before they will fund the American graduate already carrying the debt.
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