Bronx borough councilman and gubernatorial candidate Richie Torres touted himself Tuesday as a critic of Albany's shady politics as he called for an investigation into Gov. Kathy Hochul's massive $9 billion home health care program. .
But the outspoken lawmaker focused on the changes Hochul made to the program and declined to criticize the powerful state health union, which has pushed for revisions.
Torres called for state and federal authorities to investigate the Hochul Department of Health for allegedly inducing companies involved in the Consumer Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) to receive illegally favorable contracts.
CDPAP has operated with minimal oversight, with the support of hundreds of private companies and nonprofit organizations that act as payroll agents between Medicaid and caregivers.
The change, pushed by Hochul, would eliminate hordes of unchecked intermediaries and instead hire a single company chosen by the DOH to consolidate work and hopefully eliminate the possibility of fraud. The purpose is
However, as The Post previously reported, the state was accused of rigging the bidding process to award the contract to Public Partnership LLC (PPL). Competitors of the winning company have filed complaints alleging fraud.
Subsequent reports also revealed that the powerful and well-funded medical union 1199SEIU was allegedly involved in the entire process.
The union worked behind the scenes to ensure that the potential bidder unionized the roughly 250,000 personal care workers in the program and advocated for higher wages for them.
“I'm not interested in a popularity contest,” Torres, who recently shed a tear in a match against Hochul, told reporters on Tuesday. “I'm not an Albany affiliate. I'm not a creature of Albany. I'm not here to get along. I'm here to tell you the hard truth.
“The governor is effectively creating a state-licensed monopoly for CDPAP, guaranteeing that a state-licensed monopoly will result in lower costs for taxpayers,” Torres said.
“But the essence of a monopoly is not to cut or suppress costs. The essence of a monopoly is to raise prices, because that's what a monopoly does.”
However, the lawmaker was less enthusiastic about criticizing himself and expanding his calls for an investigation into 1199SEIU's alleged actions.
“No, we are calling for an investigation into the entire administration's handling of the $9 billion contract,” he said.
Representatives for 1199SEIU did not respond to requests for comment. Union representatives have previously expressed clear support for Hochul's changes.
The intermediary, known as the Fiscal Intermediary, has spent millions of dollars trying to break its contract with PPL since April and is now resorting to a number of ongoing lawsuits to break it.
Hochul's representative told the Post in a statement Tuesday: “If Richie Torres had done some basic research or read the New York Post, he would have discovered that hundreds of unnecessary government intermediaries are exactly what increased taxpayer spending on CDPAP. “Billions of dollars.''
“Now, on top of his many false claims, he wants to protect intermediaries rather than protect taxpayers and home care users who need economically sustainable CDPAP.
“He doesn't see any point on this. We remain focused on delivering a stronger and more effective CDPAP as part of the transition that takes effect by April 2025. ” said the representative.
