Torres calls for investigation of Hochul’s $9B home-care program — but won’t attack powerful union

Bronx representative and potential gubernatorial candidate Richie Torres called for an investigation of Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday, calling himself a critic of shady Albany politics. Huge $9 billion home care program,

But the outspoken congressman — focusing on the changes Hochul made to the program — declined to criticize a powerful state health care union that had heavily advocated for the amendment.

Torres called on state and federal officials to investigate Hochul’s health department over allegations of illegality conducted a lucrative contract For a firm that has a Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP.

CDPAP was operating with the help of hundreds of private businesses and nonprofits that served as payroll agents between Medicaid and caregivers – with minimal oversight.

The change made by Hochul was designed to get rid of the multitude of unregulated middlemen and instead employ a single company selected by the DOH to consolidate work and eliminate potential fraud.

But as The Post previously reported, the state was accused of rigging the bidding process to award the contract to Public Partnership LLC, or PPL. Competitors of the winning company have filed claims alleging unfairness.

later Reporting also shown The powerful and well-funded healthcare union 1199SEIU reportedly played a role in the overall process.

The union worked behind the scenes to guarantee that the potential bid winner would unionize the approximately 250,000 personal care aides included in the program and advocate for increased wages.

“I’m not interested in a popularity contest,” Torres, who recently ran against Hochul, told reporters Tuesday. “I’m not an Albany insider. I am not a creature of Albany. I didn’t come here to walk along. I have come here to tell the bitter truth.

Torres said, “The Governor is effectively creating a state-sanctioned monopoly for CDPAP, and she assures us that a state-sanctioned monopoly will result in cost savings for taxpayers.”

“But the nature of a monopoly is not to cut costs or control costs, the nature of a monopoly is to raise prices, because that’s what monopolies do.”

Yet Congressmen were less eager to voice their criticism and increase their demands for an investigation into 1199SEIU’s alleged actions.

“No, we are demanding a probe into the entire administration’s handling of the $9 billion contract,” he said.

A representative for 1199SEIU did not respond to a request for comment. There were representatives of the union earlier also expressed clear support For the changes of Hochul.

Middleman firms, called fiscal arbitrageurs, have spent millions of dollars trying to void PPL’s ​​contracts since April and now Relying on several ongoing lawsuits To cancel the deal.

A representative for Hochul told The Post in a statement Tuesday, “If Richie Torres had done some basic research or read the New York Post, he would have known that hundreds of unnecessary, administrative middlemen are the very things that result in the taxpayer’s burden on the CDPAP. Expenses have increased.” Billions of dollars.

“Now, with his many false claims, he wants to protect the middlemen instead of protecting taxpayers and home care users who need CDPAP to be financially sustainable.

“He’s not making any sense on this. We will continue to focus on delivering a stronger and more effective CDPAP as part of the change that will take effect by April 2025,” the representative said.