HALT the CDPAP Transition

Last year’s State Budget included a major change to the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP), which supports nearly 250,000 elderly and disabled New Yorkers.  Through CDPAP, disabled individuals can hire, train and direct their own personal assistants, who are paid and provided benefits through a fiscal intermediary using Medicaid funds.  The State is forcing all who rely on this program to use one single fiscal intermediary - Public Partnerships, LLC (PPL), an out-of-state company which was awarded a $9 billion contract by the State to do this work.  This transition isn’t just administrative - it’s personal and difficult for thousands of New Yorkers.

CDPAP is supposed to be a lifeline for some of our most vulnerable citizens, now it's a bureaucratic nightmare.  The new system has been hastily implemented causing chaos, confusion and fear that care needs will not be met.  In fact, the state Department of Health has reported about 60,000 consumers have left CDPAP for other personal care services, and about 40,000 have still not fully transitioned to PPL even though the deadline to do so has passed.

Courts have delayed this transition while lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called for a pause, if not full stop. We cannot implement a policy that may leave some of our most vulnerable neighbors without a personal assistant they need for dignity, independence, and, quite frankly, daily survival.

Sign this petition and join me in calling on the Governor and the State Department of Health to HALT the CDPAP transition to a single fiscal intermediary and DEMAND a full public review of this harmful policy that has real-life consequences for New Yorkers who need our help the most.