Our Doctors First Act of 2026

The Our Doctors First Act of 2026 prohibits Medicare from providing federal funding for the graduate medical education of doctors who are not U.S. citizens or nationals. This change applies to hospitals and non-hospital training providers, requiring them to stop counting non-citizen residents and interns toward their Medicare payments starting one year after the law is enacted. To enforce this rule, the bill imposes escalating financial penalties on facilities that knowingly count ineligible trainees, ranging from a percentage of the payment amount for a first offense to a five-year ban on receiving Medicare education funds for repeated violations.