Press Releases

Today, Congressman Mike Lawler announced that he and several of his New York congressional colleagues have sent a letter urging House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to prohibit federal Medicaid expending toward any Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) payments in support of changes to the New York Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) unless the State submits a State Plan Amendment (SPA) to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and receives approval of the proposed changes. The letter, sent on December 5th, was co-signed by Representatives Nick LaLota (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), Anthony D'Esposito (NY-04), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Marc Molinaro (NY-19), Nick Langworthy (NY-23), and Claudia Tenney (NY-24).

Earlier this year, Governor Hochul overhauled the CDPAP program by requiring the State to contract with a single fiscal intermediary (FI), putting the hundreds of operating FIs in New York State out of business. There are serious concerns here because FIs are essential in the delivery of care to the hundreds of thousands of participants in the CDPAP program. Separately, PPL, the company awarded the sole FI contract by the Governor, has a history of financial mismanagement as well as no experience working in New York. There have also been questions raised about rigging in the bidding process.

Almost every stakeholder has vehemently opposed the Governor’s changes and has called for an immediate reversal of policy. Congressman Lawler also sent a letter in July urging the same action. Since Governor Hochul has not heeded concerns and looks to move forward with this ill-thought-out change, it is instrumental that both Congress and CMS step in. Federal funding should only proceed once CMS has provided the necessary oversight and validated the effectiveness of the changes.

Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of the 118th Congress and represents New York's 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties.