Exclusive | A powerful union helped NY state rig the bidding for Gov. Hochuls $9B home health aide program overhaul: suit
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New York is facing yet another lawsuit alleging it rigged the bidding process for Gov.Kathy Hochul’s move to overhaul a massive $9 billion homecare program.The new filing alleges that powerful healthcare union 1199SEIU was in on the fix to help controversial firm Public Partnerships LLC secure the multi-million dollar contract to handle payment services for the rapidly expanding Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program.At least five lawsuits have so far been filed to try and unravel Hochul’s overhaul of the CDPAP, two of which have specifically alleging bid-rigging on the part of the governor’s administration.Hochul and the state legislature, as part of the gov’s revamp of the allegedly fraud-ridden program, agreed to get rid of nearly 700 middlemen firms that acted as payroll agents between CDPAP caregivers and Medicaid in favor of one hand-picked contractor.Critics, including the existing middlemen firms like Mark’s Homecare LLC — which filed the latest suit in Albany Supreme Court — have been crying foul about the process leading up Public Partnerships LLC being awarded the bid.According to the Dec.
6 lawsuit, 1199SEIU Vice President Rona Shapiro brazenly told some home care agencies on a Zoom call in June it knew that PPL would get the contract — despite the state Department of Health still supposedly accepting proposals for another two months.“Ms.Shapiro stated that 1199SEIU had met with DOH representatives and learned that DOH would award the single, statewide FI contract to PPL,” lawyers for Mark’s Homecare LLC wrote in the filing.
The Post reported as early as April that PPL was being floated as a potential contractor during state budget negotiations.The suit also alleges that the DOH provided 1199SEIU — one of New York’s most powerful unions — with a list of all the middlemen firms, called fiscal intermediaries.The Post revealed in September that 1199SEIU had been reaching out to prospective bidders for the massive contrac...