William R. Richardson: “a constituent of mine from Santa Fe recently wrote to me that she was working full time, but her employer considers her…”

“a constituent of mine from Santa Fe recently wrote to me that she was working full time, but her employer considers her part time, to avoid paying health insurance. Health care reform is about finding a way for employees to receive health benefits and enjoy the security of knowing that he or she and their family always will have health coverage in all circumstances. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are saying that health care reform is not a problem. First they said there was no crisis. Now they are saying maybe they want to work with us on health care reform. Now they are politicizing the survey about drug use among adolescents, a survey that basically was completed early on in the Clinton administration. Mr. Speaker, it does not help to politicize our antidrug efforts. It does not help to politicize the health care issue. Let us get on with health care reform and keep the politics out of it. The debate on health care reform must not stumble on how we get to reform but what we have when we get there. We must remember that people should not have to suffer from ridiculous concerns such as whether they are considered part-time or full-time. Without health care reform, American families will still have some fear of an avoidable health crisis. Our underlying goal in health care reform should be to eliminate that fear.”