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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 Hochul
Administration of putting its thumb on the scale in favor of a single contractor known as Public
Partnerships 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 personal home care aides.
The Post, earlier this year, reported how the costs for the popular program had spiraled out of control, with little oversight of some 700 businesses or non-profits that operate as middlemen, or payroll agents, between caregivers and Medicaid.
In order to curb costs in the program, the DOH selected one firm, Public Partnerships LLC, to replace the hundreds of go-between companies, triggering an industry backlash.
But Martinez’s sworn affidavit — filed as part of lawsuit opposing the contract — alleges a state chief disability officer told him and other home care operators during a Zoom meeting in April that the DOH had selected Public Partnerships to be the statewide fiscal intermediary, long before initiating a competitive bidding process.
“The pre-selection of PPL was the worst kept secret in Albany, and the bidding process that arose afterwards has since been exposed as a dog-and-pony show with a predetermined outcome,” Torres charged.
He said probes by the IGs may be “the only hope” for bringing “transparency and accountability to a high-stakes process that has neither but needs both.”
Hochul’s office defended the bidding process for the CDPAP contract and accused Torres of fighting changes to improve the program.
“It looks like Ritchie Torres is trying to derail much-needed reforms and protect the status quo of runaway spending and fraud that has hurt New York taxpayers and made CDPAP unsustainable for home care users who need it,” a Hochul spokesperson said.
“That doesn’t seem like a great use of time, and his letter is full of false claims anyway – so we’ll stay focused on delivering a stronger and more effective CDPAP as part of the transition that will take effect by April 2025.”
Hochul’s camp insisted no state official knew in April which company would get the contract — and that the DOH received 100 responses during the bidding process.
Public Partnerships was awarded the contract fair and square, with the highest score, her office said.
“It was a totally independent procurement process I was not involved in the selection at all,” Hochul told reporters during an unrelated press conference Monday.
“Criteria was put out there was a desire to have an entity that was going to take over a failing system.”
The chief disability officer cited in the affidavit did not draft the requests for proposal or evaluate the responses and the state comptroller can review the contract after it’s finalized, her office said.
“My number one priority with the home healthcare program is to make sure those who need the help are getting it, whether they have disabilities, whether they’re short term long term, senior citizens, I believe in the programs that keep families together and keep them at home,” Hochul told reporters.
A spokesman for the state IG confirmed receiving Torres’ letter and said it investigates “all complaints that fall under our jurisdiction.”
The federal HHS IG’s office had no immediate comment.