Access to affordable health care is an important issue across Kansas. Rural communities often struggle to attract and retain physicians and other health care professionals. Without doctors it becomes impossible to support the local hospital; without hospitals, senior citizens and young families may decide they can't take the risk of living and raising a family in a small community.
With the approval of the J-1 Visa Program, we have won another battle in Congress for rural America. This program allows foreign-born but American-trained physicians to remain in the United States after their residency, if they commit to practicing medicine in an underserved area. In Kansas, this has been an important way that communities, clinics and hospitals have recruited doctors. In fact, since 1993, the J-1 Visa program has brought more than 120 physicians to our state. The good news is that many of these doctors and their families become long-term, active citizens in their communities and provide high quality health care that would not otherwise be available.
Passage of this legislation will literally save lives in Kansas.
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