Key Points
- The Department of Education published the names of 574 health professionals in default on Health Education Assistance Loans on October 29, 2026, the first list since October 2021.
- Borrowers on the list owe about $92.7 million combined, and chiropractors make up more than half of the names.
- The list lands as Treasury prepares to restart wage garnishment and tax refund seizures for roughly 10 million borrowers in default on federal student loans.
The Department of Education published a list of defaulted Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) borrowers in the Federal Register on October 29, 2026. The notice names 574 borrowers who were in default as of August 17, 2026, with each person’s last known city and state, professional field and amount due.
Most student loan defaults stay between the borrower, the lender and the credit bureaus. HEAL loan defaults are published by name under federal law.
This is the first HEAL default list in five years. Federal Student Aid last published the list back in October 2021. The five-year break spanned the Covid payment pause and the handoff of defaulted loan collections to the Treasury Department.
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Why It Matters
Landing on the HEAL list can cost a health professional far more than a damaged credit report. Under the Public Health Service Act, Federal Student Aid shares the list with state licensing boards, hospitals, schools, professional associations and federal agencies on written request. The consequences go beyond the usual fallout from defaulting on student loans and could include potentially losing your professional license.
The HHS Office of Inspector General can also exclude a provider in default on a health education loan from Medicare and Medicaid, a serious blow for any practice that bills those programs.
A Congressional Research Service report notes that some state laws require a license to be revoked or suspended over HEAL defaults. Those penalties sit on top of the tax refund seizures any borrower with defaulted federal debt can face.
What Is A HEAL Loan?
HEAL was a federally insured loan program for graduate students in health fields. From 1978 through. 1998, private lenders made HEAL loans to students in medicine, osteopathy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatry, public health, pharmacy and chiropractic, plus health administration and clinical psychology programs. New lending ended September 30, 1998.
The Department of Health and Human Services ran the program until July 1, 2014, when the Education Department took over servicing and collections. HEAL loans follow their own rules outside the Direct Loan program.
Who Is On The 2026 HEAL Default List?
The 2026 list totals about $92.7 million in defaulted HEAL debt, based on The College Investor’s tally of every entry in the notice.
The average balance is about $161,500, and the median is about $109,000. That average is roughly seven times the typical defaulted federal student loan balance, given the $179 billion owed by 7.8 million borrowers in default at the end of 2025.
Chiropractors account for 308 of the 574 names (or 54%) and owe $40.6 million combined. Podiatrists carry the highest average balance at about $249,000, and 30 borrowers owe more than $500,000. California accounts for 229 borrowers, or 40% of the list, followed by Texas, New York and Florida.
Those totals keep climbing because interest keeps accruing on defaulted student loans until they’re resolved.
| Field | Borrowers | Total Owed | Average Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chiropractic | 308 | $40.6 million | $131,800 |
| Dentistry | 111 | $22.4 million | $201,900 |
| Medicine (MD) | 69 | $13.1 million | $190,000 |
| Podiatry | 35 | $8.7 million | $249,000 |
| Clinical Psychology | 20 | $3.2 million | $161,300 |
| Osteopathic Medicine (DO) | 18 | $3.5 million | $196,600 |
| All Other Fields | 13 | $1.1 million | $84,400 |
| Total | 574 | $92.7 million | $161,500 |
The 2026 list is shorter than the 2021 version, but the balances are bigger. The October 2021 notice listed 671 borrowers owing about $98.3 million, an average of about $146,500.
Borrowers can get off the list by getting out of default, though the notice doesn’t say why roughly 100 names came off. The average balance still rose about 10%, and three borrowers now owe more than $1 million, led by a balance of about $1.79 million.
| Measure | October 2021 List | October 2026 List |
|---|---|---|
| Defaults As Of | August 1, 2021 | August 17, 2026 |
| Borrowers Listed | 671 | 574 |
| Total Owed | $98.3 million | $92.7 million |
| Average Balance | $146,500 | $161,500 |
| Largest Balance | $1.48 million | $1.79 million |
How This Connects
The HEAL defaulted borrower list arrives as the federal government prepares to restart involuntary collections across the entire federal student loan portfolio. The Education Department delayed wage garnishment and Treasury offsets on January 16, 2026. In March, the department signed an agreement that moved defaulted loan collections to Treasury.
On September 30, Treasury and the Education Department launched the Defaulted Loans Support Center, an online portal we covered at launch. Treasury says rehabilitation approvals rose 69% and consolidations out of default rose 95% in the partnership’s first months.
Officials haven’t announced a restart date for all borrowers. An October 19 report from The Washington Sun said Treasury could start contracting with private collection agencies as early as November. Once collections resume, defaulted borrowers face administrative wage garnishment and seizure of federal tax refunds.
To remember that collections won’t immediately impact borrowers in the SAVE forbearance. Time in forbearance is not default. The clock will start ticking once borrowers are forced to move to a new repayment plan and then don’t make payments. For the roughly 20 million other student loan borrowers be in repayment under other repayment plans, they face that risk today.
The HEAL statute has required this list all along, so the notice by itself doesn’t prove a new crackdown. Still, reviving a dormant naming tool in the same year Treasury takes over collections fits a clear pattern: the government is putting its collection powers back to work after the pandemic pause.
What’s Next
Borrowers on the HEAL list should contact Transworld Systems, the collector named in the notice, at 866-568-5978, or the Education Department’s HEAL team at [email protected].
Anyone in default on Direct or FFEL loans should use the window before garnishment and tax refund offsets restart to get out of default through rehabilitation or consolidation.
Watch for a Treasury announcement on private collection contracts, since some officials reportedly favor restarting collections during the 2027 tax filing season.
Editor: Colin Graves
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
He is committed to making the intersection of personal finance and education transparent and accessible. You can learn more about Robert on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.