Washington — The American Medical Association has successfully lobbied the U.S. Education Department to plug a gap in medical-student loan deferment that was created by a student-loan bill signed into law in September. The move follows a letter, released last week by the association, that asked the department to postpone the elimination of economic-hardship deferments for medical-school graduates.

Shortly thereafter, the department extended the deferment eligibility, prompting applause from the association. If the Education Department had not dealt with the issue, some medical-school graduates would have been unable to apply for economic-hardship deferments for nearly two years. —JJ Hermes