Legislators Must Keep Their Promise

Tallahassee (March 6, 2008) - Florida Health Care Association Vice Chair Deborah Franklin today called on Florida legislators to restore the $75 million (annualized) in Medicaid funding cut January 1, 2008 so that Florida's nursing homes can pay for the additional nurses and certified nursing assistant staff the law requires.

"The legislature passed the law requiring the additional staff and the nursing homes have kept their end of the deal," Franklin said. "Now legislators must keep their word and give us the money to pay the staff."

Franklin noted the $75 million cut in January was a hard-dollar cut in the per-patient-per-day rate Medicaid pays for nursing home care. Florida nursing homes receive only an average $174.60 per day to provide 24-hour skilled nursing care as well as food, shelter and a wide variety of social and quality of life services. Franklin also pointed out that most nursing homes are required to take a certain percentage of Medicaid patients as a condition of its license.

Franklin warned that the deep funding cuts threaten to halt the steady and dramatic gains made in nursing home quality since passage of landmark elder care legislation (SB 1202) in 2001. The legislation required regular increases in daily minimum nurse and certified nursing assistant staff care, which are now the highest in the nation. Maintaining steady quality improvement is a goal strongly supported by the AARP, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Florida Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Florida Catholic Conference and the Florida Association of Jewish Federations, among others.

Read all of Deborah Franklin's remarks here. 

"Our Florida Promise"

Franklin announced the formation of "Our Florida Promise" (www.ourfloridapromise.org), a 501(c)(4) educational/advocacy organization that will help Florida legislators and citizens recognize the sacred obligation to fund quality nursing home care for Florida's "Greatest Generation." Over the next two weeks, Our Florida Promise will sponsor television commercials (to view, see: media.victorygroup.com/ourpromise) to run in Tampa, West Palm, Pensacola and Tallahassee. "The dignified care of our parents and grandparents must be the top priority," Franklin said.