Description:
H.R. 3398 would reauthorize and amend the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program and would provide $100 million in 2020—$85 million for the grant program and $15 million for administrative costs and technical assistance related to the expansion of the program. Beginning in 2021, the bill would expand the program and would provide $425 million for each year from 2021 through 2025. The expanded program would provide grants to: Train low-income individuals for careers in the health professions, Create demonstration projects to train individuals for careers in the pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum fields, and Create demonstration projects to provide education and training in the health professions for individuals with arrest or conviction records. For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 3398 will be enacted around the end of 2019. Section 1501 of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and Health Extenders Act of 2019 (Public Law 116-59) reauthorized HPOG through November 21, 2019, which CBO estimated would provide $12 million in 2020. Thus, CBO estimates that in 2020, enacting H.R. 3398 would increase budget authority by $73 million for the grant program—$85 million in the bill minus the $12 million already provided—and $15 million for administrative expenses. (The bill specifies that amounts provided for HPOG in any prior act be charged to the appropriation in H.R. 3398.)
