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January 2, 2003
The Honorable Tommy Thompson,
Secretary
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence
Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Dear
Secretary Thompson: The
National Grange, this nation's oldest general farm and rural public interest organization,
would like to express its strong support for your efforts to revive the J-1 visa
waiver program. We appreciate your hard work to set forth new regulations allowing
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to request waivers of "return-home"
requirements for foreign doctors who practice in underserved rural communities.
Since the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's withdrawal as an Interested Government Agency
(IGA) of the J-1 visa waiver program, we have been concerned about the deficit
in the health-care infrastructure of rural America. The J-1 visa waiver program
has provided needed physicians in underserved rural areas since the mid-1990's.
Without this program, many rural Americans will go without access to health care.
This program, since its inception, has brought approximately 3,000 physicians
to underserved rural areas of the country. The
National Grange believes that your efforts to improve the access of qualified
foreign physicians to the underserved rural areas will have a critical impact
on the health and welfare of rural Americans. We urge HHS to cooperate harmoniously
with the State Department and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to institute
the waivers of "return-home" requirements for foreign physicians who work in medical
professional shortage areas, such as rural communities, as soon as possible. Again,
the National Grange applauds your hard work on the reintroduction of the J-1 visa
waiver and will appreciate your ongoing efforts to implement this program as soon
as possible. We
wish you all the best in 2003. Sincerely,
Kermit W.
Richardson, National Master (President)
National
Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry | 
