Solis Sees Health Care Reform As Possible Solution To Job Crisis

By Courtney Costello- Talk Radio News Service

Hilda Solis, Department of Labor Secretary, gave remarks today on health care reform, at the American Federation for Teachers, Health Care and Public Employees Joint Conference.

“We’re in a lot of trouble…[there are] things that weren’t taken care of years ago and its catching up to us now… We can downsize in a way that doesn’t hurt the most vulnerable and to me that means health care,” said Solis.

Solis stressed that there are over 250 million jobs in health care careers that can be filled by unemployed Americans. She also emphasized that newly displaced workers can take advantage of the 3.5 billion dollars that have been released by the Department of Labor for green collar jobs by partaking in new training programs.

“Health care isn’t a one time shot. Health care reform is a tough issue for us, and for the President, and for many Americans. [There are] 46 million, and growing, that don’t have it,’ said Solis. “There are more people having to go to public assistance because they lost their job…we’ve got to fix it.”