Several state lawmakers said Wednesday they do not expect either the Senate or Assembly's counter budget offer to Gov. Kathy Hochul's spending plan will amend a controversial change to a $9 billion Medicaid home care program that takes effect April 1.
More than 150,000 disabled and elderly people who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program need to be registered with new management company Public Partnerships LLC with just over three weeks to go.
But for now, legislative leaders are siding with Hochul to keep the current deadline in place.
“I’m not in support of a delay,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters in Albany on Wednesday. “You’re always going to have some tough spots when you make a huge change like this. …but on March 5, I’m not willing to entertain (a delay) at this point.”
On April 1 — the day the state budget also deadlines — PPL will take over the program and put more than 600 smaller companies that have facilitated it for decades out of business.
Heastie said several fiscal intermediaries that have been running the program, which has been laden with fraud and abuse, have refused to share home care worker data with PPL and should not be rewarded for trying to muck up the transition.
"The Legislaure is always willing to react, but to concede to a delay just plays right into the hands of the FIs," the speaker said. "...My romantic wish would be to see everybody who needs this program and the services to get signed up and there to be a smooth transition."
More than 100,000 disabled or elderly New Yorkers of the roughly 280,000 who use the home care program have started or finished their registration with the new company — meaning the transition is less than halfway complete. Program recipients must also register their personal assistants by March 28 to avoid disruptions in pay.
Lawmakers and 11 independent living centers that facilitate CDPAP rallied in the Capitol on Wednesday pushing for more time to prevent thousands from losing home care.
"In 26 days, many of the folks sitting behind me who require assistance to be able to live their lives might not have that service available to them," Senate Health Committee chair Gustavo Rivera said during the rally. "So we have to act, and we have to act now. It's no longer a hypothetical. The panic button has been touched. So, governor, change the deadline."
Rivera has spoken out against the April 1 deadline for months — pushing his legislation to delay the transition another year.
A growing number of lawmakers spoke out Wednesday calling for legislative action to prevent thousands of people from losing care as Democrats engage in early budget talks.
Assembly Health Committee chair Amy Paulin agrees with Heastie and said the transition needs to be fixed, but a delay isn't the answer.
She wants to introduce a bill to hold FIs liable if they fail to follow the state Health Department's order to give PPL the data the company needs to complete the transition.
"Fining their business is not going to help them," Paulin told reporters Wednesday. "They should be personally liable for the harm they're doing to New Yorkers."
More than 100,000 consumers and more than 100,000 workers statewide have started or completed the registration process as of Wednesday, according to the state Health Department.
The transition is ramping up as expected and will be completed on time, according to the department.
"This transition will protect home care users and deliver a better, stronger CDPAP – and the transition remains on track for completion by April 1," a spokesperson with the Health Department said in a statement.. "The department has consistently reminded fiscal intermediaries of their obligation to comply with the transition process, as we ensure that consumers have the information and resources they need.”
PPL received 30,000 calls about registrations on Monday alone, which is twice as many calls as the company received in the entire month of January, according to DOH.
"They're pushing PPL very hard," the assemblywoman said of the Health Department. "I just don't know if they're going to get there. The real deadline is in a couple of weeks."
Todd Vaarwerk, the chief police officer for Western New York Independent Living, has cerebral palsy and has relied on CDPAP for home care for decades.
He registered with PPL, and helped his personal assistant register, but said lawmakers should give the transition another six months to ensure no one falls through the cracks.
"I can't say PPL is the delayer here, but April 1 is too soon," he said. "There needs to be additional time to make sure everyone is enrolled."
Last-minute legislative action is common in the state, and lawmakers said that will likely be the case for CDPAP, adding it will be the witching hour of the April 1 deadline before Hochul and legislative leaders consider a delay.
"We've done this before, we know how to do things at the last-minute," Senate Disabilities Committee chair Pat Fahy told Spectrum News 1. "And I think, right now, the pressure needs to stay on getting those enrollments in."
Fahy said she receives calls from CDPAP users every day, and is concerned PPL is behind schedule in enrolling recipients and their caregivers.
Lawmakers will conference issues the rest of the week before the Senate and Assembly are expected to release their counter offers to Gov. Hochul's budget on Monday.
But it doesn't mean changes are off the table in budget negotiations, which will not begin in earnest until later this month.
"Let's let the current process work," Fahy said. "As difficult as that may be, we're all trying to give it a few more weeks here."