Bill Clinton: “Well, first, sir, I think that medical professionals should be able to do what they are trained and properly qualified…”

“Well, first, sir, I think that medical professionals should be able to do what they are trained and properly qualified to do. But what I hope we can do is to put more physicians out in rural America. Under our plan, there are some very special incentives to try to get more doctors to go into the rural areas and the small towns. We want to revive the National Health Service Corps and put another 7,000 doctors out paying off their medical school bills by practicing in underserved areas over the next 5 years. In addition to that, we propose to give significant tax credits to people as income incentives to go out and practice in rural areas, in shortage areas. Physicians get quite a bit, and where there's a nurse shortage, nurses and other health professionals can get some as well. And the third thing we're going to try do is to give more support to physicians in rural areas, do more to connect them with medical centers through technology, do more to provide tax incentives for them to buy their own equipment so they can provide high quality care. So my goal is to have more people like you in small towns and rural areas. I just came back from Troy, North Carolina, where I was talking to doctors there about the terrible medical shortage. And I met a woman who told me that she had worked 100 hours a week for 2 or 3 months in a row, and she was now down to her slow season where she was down to 80 hours a week, because they didn't have any more doctors. So I think that one of the things we have to do is to try to keep the doctors in rural America if we're going to keep rural America alive. Mr. Anschutz. Thank you, Tulsa. We go now to Topeka, up to the north. Ralph Hipp is there. Ralph, good evening. Ralph Hipp. Good evening, Wendall, and good evening, Mr. President. We're delighted to be a part of your town hall meeting here in the Kansas capital, home of the Menninger Foundation. And I'd like to introduce this gentleman, who has a special question of interest about that field. Mental Health Care”