FHCA Statement on Supreme Court Ruling on Health Care Reform

The following is a statement from the Florida Health Care Association Executive Director J. Emmett Reed after today’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the Affordable Care Act:

“Health care reform includes several components that affect long term and post-acute care providers. Skilled nursing facilities in Florida and across the country have been implementing the law and preparing for the provisions yet to come.

With the constitutional issues surrounding health reform now answered, we hope Congress will shift its attention to tackling the difficult challenge of how to care for a growing elderly population in an era of declining resources. In Florida, the shortfall in Medicaid funding for long term care needs reached $145 million and $6.3 billion nationally in 2011. Against a backdrop of rising health care costs, Florida long term care facilities have also suffered multiple rounds of Medicare cuts and reductions in the last few years. Florida Health Care Association supports initiatives that create incentives for quality care and help contain health care costs. We look forward to working with Governor Scott and the Legislature to address these critical issues that ensure access to skilled nursing and assisted living care for our state’s seniors.”