About 500 health care professionals were accepted into a loan repayment program that was formed to address a staffing shortage in the state.
The Healthcare Education Loan Repayment Program, or HELP, was given $30 million in funding by the state Legislature for the next two years.
A total of $10 million was allocated for this year and the rest will be available next year.
The aggressive loan repayment program was designed to retain and recruit health care professionals to Hawaiʻi. It offers financial aid to medical field workers who have accrued substantial debt from their training.
Gov. Josh Green is hopeful the program will help address the health care worker shortage.
“We want to be the first state that has no shortage whatsoever of access to health care. This is our view of universal care, which is (that) everyone actually can find a health care provider," Green said.
"And you give us five or six years of this program, and that's what we'll achieve.”
HELP participants have to commit to working in Hawaiʻi for two years and accept patients with public insurance.
They can qualify for loan repayments of up to $50,000 per year.
