Several state lawmakers are making a last-ditch effort to give thousands of New Yorkers more time to register with the new company that will manage a $9 billion Medicaid program home care program at the end of the month.

Roughly 280,000 New Yorkers who use the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) and their caregivers must register with Public Partnerships LLC before April 1 — taking over for 600 smaller companies.

About 108,000 consumers have completed their registration as of Monday, with about 32,000 who have started the process, according to the state Health Department. Another 40,000 people are in process to transition to the Personal Care Service home care option.

But that leaves leaves about 100,000 users who have yet to take action with two weeks to go.

"They're not ready to take on all the constituents that they need to take on," state Sen. Leroy Comrie told Spectrum News 1 on Monday. "Change the date, what's the big deal? People are not registered yet. There's nothing wrong with the governor changing the date...Move the date back so we can get something that makes sense."

Comrie, a Queens Democrat, is circulating a letter to lawmakers in Albany this week to push Gov. Kathy Hochul to delay the upcoming deadline a few more months until all program users and their workers register with the new company.

The senator said he expects dozens of senators and assemblymembers to sign the bipartisan letter and plans to send it by the end of the week. 

Comrie blames the state Health Department for not giving the program proper oversight, which led to fraud, and argues it's wrong to hold New Yorkers who rely on the program responsible.

"If they had kept their records up and maintained a computer system and maintained some diligence, we wouldn't be in this problem in the first place," Comrie said.

The Senate and Assembly each did not propose delaying the April 1 deadline in their one-house budgets — signaling that legislative leaders agree with Gov. Hochul and the health commissioner.

PPL and state Health Department Commissioner Dr. James McDonald maintain the transition is on track, and will save taxpayers up to $1 billion per year.

Consumers can register with the new company over the phone, online or at scheduled in-person events. Nearly 150,000 workers had either started or completed the registration process as of Monday, according to PPL.

About a dozen program users and caregivers showed up at PPL's only upstate office in Latham, in Albany County, on Monday to find it empty with a sign on the window that reads the office is under construction.

"And we only have two weeks left to register before people in New York get dropped from their home care and aides lose their jobs," said Mark Ressl, a CDPAP home care aide of eight years.

Three Colonie police cars with multiple officers arrived at the office during the demonstration and told protestors and reporters that PPL was not present in the building. 

But a spokesperson with PPL said that staff are working in the Latham location and helping people with their registrations by appointment only.

"Our full move-in required some retrofitting of the space, and we expect to fully move in within 60 days," PPL said in a statement. "For now, registration personnel are available at the location."

Several advocates against the change have refused to register on purpose, but many lawmakers say they continue to receive calls from concerned program users who have struggled to make the transition, saying they've experienced long wait times or don't get a returned phone call for days.

Other CDPAP users said PPL employees have not known answers about worker pay or benefits when they did receive a call, and it took weeks for them to get an answer by email.

The company also has an office in Manhattan where staff help with registrations by appointment.

PPL's customer service is structured to have a 10-minute hold limit before a person is connected with an agent, or returning a message within 24 hours.

"Seventy percent of consumers receive a callback the same day, the remainder get a callback the following day," according to PPL.

CDPAP recipients like Sage Jobsis, who has multiple sclerosis, said she and her caregivers have spent hours on hold or could not get through to a representative for several days.

With more than 600 fiscal intermediaries, New York had the largest number of CDPAP facilitators in the nation. One was recently indicted in an alleged $68 million fraud scheme.

But Jobsis argues disabled or elderly people losing their care will cost the state more in the long run.

"If the governor really cares about keeping folks like myself out of hospitals and nursing homes, both of which are more expense then whatever waste fraud or abuse was happening, it seems like there are steps to take maybe asking those of us who use it, maybe by talking to those who work for it," she said.

A spokesperson with Gov. Hochul's office blasted the demonstration in front of the Latham office as a publicity stunt, and noted it was promoted online by advocacy grouops that have been cited in recent complaints for spreading misinformation to consumers about the CDPAP transition.

“This PR stunt had nothing to do with the state’s CDPAP transition, which is operating statewide and has already engaged hundreds of thousands of consumers and workers in the transition process," Hochul's spokesperson Sam Spokony said in a statement Monday. "It’s no surprise that today’s stunt was promoted online by the spokesman for shady businesses that ran a $10 million dark money campaign against our CDPAP reforms and recently spread misinformation to consumers about the transition process. Our much-needed reforms will protect CDPAP for home care users who need it, while also protecting New York taxpayers by putting an end to years of runaway administrative costs – and it will all take effect on April 1."

The Health Department and governor's office did not answer questions about when the office will open fulltime or how much the space costs to rent.