Hochuls home-care fix may not be corrupt but its sure a disaster

Something rotten is definitely happening in Albany, though whether Gov.Kathy Hochul’s “reform” of the state’s $11 billion home-care program was corrupt, or simply disastrously bungled, remains to be seen.

The feds will look for corruption now that a newly surfaced email adds fuel to the fire of possible bid-rigging as the gov centralized oversight of the Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program, which pays family members to care for mostly-elderly disabled Medicaid recipients at home.The smoking gun email — obtained via a FOIL request by Empire Center watchdogs — confirms that state officials were in contact with reps for Public Partnership LLC, or PPL, weeks before lawmakers even authorized bidding on managing the home-care program, and long before PPL won the five-year, $1 billion contract to oversee CDPAP.Hochul launched a reform drive years ago, insisting the state was burning millions on fraud as 600-plus intermediaries oversaw 400,000 home-care workers, a number that had skyrocketed in recent years.It sure looks like the gov always intended to put PPL in charge: The company’s name even showed in draft legislation to create the new system.Even if some honest explanation surfaces for all that, the larger issue is that Hochul’s “reforms” have yet to produce even a hint of the promised savings — but may soon drastically boost outlays.

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Never miss a story.That’s because the revamp has opened to door for powerhouse SEIU 1199 to turn those 400,000 home-care aides into union members; in exchange for its massive windfall in dues, 1199 will surely immediately start pushing for pay hikes and other benefits for them.The gov’s supposed cost-containment plan has morphed into a $200 million gift to the union and likely cost explosions.If it’s not ...