At an event on Long Island yesterday on “crime and fraud”, Vice President JD Vance railed against invented ‘widespread fraud’ among New York’s Medicaid programs, including CDPAP. Vance’s visit comes just one day after Trump’s Department of Justice announced that it’s suing Governor Hochul’s administration, alleging officials rigged the bidding process in favor of Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) for a contract to manage the state’s Medicaid homecare program, the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP).
Statement from Ilana Berger, New York Political Director of New York Caring Majority:
“Hochul’s shameful disregard for caregivers and the communities they serve – even when her handpicked provider raised red flags – has now become fodder for the Trump administration’s grand plan to gut Medicaid. What we witnessed on Long Island today is the result of a Governor who would rather hand JD Vance talking points to spread the President’s baseless claims of widespread fraud than support the millions of New Yorkers who rely on this lifesaving and necessary Medicaid program. The Governor has already slashed health insurance for nearly half a million people, and now she has put many more in serious jeopardy. New York must end the PPL monopoly and return to a CDPAP model that puts care in the hands of trusted community providers, not a single private equity firm that has proven they cannot be trusted with the job. We need real leaders who will stand up to Governor Hochul and Albany’s stunning neglect this past session for the healthcare and homecare needs of millions of New Yorkers.”
Background:
The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) is a lifeline for New Yorkers in need of homecare, and provides hundreds of thousands of caregiving jobs. Over a year ago, the Hochul administration handed over the $11 billion CDPAP to Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), the private equity-backed Statewide Fiscal Intermediary (SFI). Since then, as many as 150,000 workers and 90,000 consumers have fled the program due to PPL’s payment failures, most switching to more expensive traditional homecare.
Basic information about what has happened to the money paid to PPL to operate this critical program remains hidden from lawmakers and the public. Governor Kathy Hochul continues to claim that the new system saved New York $1.2 billion dollars, but no details have been provided to back this claim. New Yorkers have no clear picture of how Medicaid dollars meant to provide care are being spent, or whether the switch to PPL is actually saving money while delivering adequate care to hundreds of thousands of older and disabled New Yorkers.
New York Caring Majority, homecare workers, recipients, and advocates were urging Albany lawmakers to include legislation in the budget sponsored by Sen. Leroy Comrie and AM Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas that would require regular public reporting on how CDPAP dollars are spent, implementing common sense oversight to protect both essential services and public dollars. The bill was excluded from the budget.
About the NY Caring Majority
NY Caring Majority is an organization of people with disabilities, older adults, family caregivers, and homecare workers. We are organizing to build a sustainable and just caring economy. We call for greater investments in home and community-based care, as a necessary means to meet our broader goal of dignity, self-determination, access and justice for all.
