Exclusive | Rep. Ritchie Torres calls for probe into alleged bid-rigging of Hochuls massive $9B Medicaid home care contract

Bronx Rep.Ritchie Torres (D-NY) opened a new front in his public war against Gov.

Kathy Hochul — calling for an investigation into claims her office rigged a bid to oversee New York’s allegedly fraud-ridden $9 billion home care Medicaid program.Torres sent a letter to state and federal authorities urging them “to investigate alleged attempts by the Hochul Administration to put the $9 billion CDPAP [Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program] in the hands of a single out-of-state vendor with a questionable track record and to do so under false pretenses.”“Governor Hochul’s multi-billion dollar boondoggle merits an independent investigation,” Torres wrote to both state Department of Health Inspector General Lucy Lang and the US Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm.The congressman claimed the awarding of the massive contract by the DOH to Public Partnerships LLC was exempt from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s review — an indication that the Hochul administration “might have something to hide.”He quoted from the sworn affidavit of a home care provider, Carlos Martinez — cited in The Post on Sunday — claiming that a state disability official had told him Public Partnerships was getting the contract well before the bidding process was even underway.“There may be something rotten in the state of New York under Governor Kathy Hochul,” the congressman said in the letter.“Just ask Carlos Martinez, the CEO of BRIDGES, whose sworn affidavit accuses the HochulAdministration of putting its thumb on the scale in favor of a single contractor known as PublicPartnerships LLC (PPL).”Torres, who said he is considering running for governor in a party primary against fellow Democrat Hochul in 2026, wrote the letter in his official capacity as a House member on his congressional letterhead.The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program — CDPAP — lets Medicaid recipients hire relatives or loved ones as paid p...