The real cost of undermining CDPAP
The state is planning to overhaul a critical health care program, and New York’s most vulnerable are going to pay the price.
A rushed RFP process is underway to disrupt the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, at least in part aimed at reducing costs to balance the state budget. The move could endanger the health and safety of those who rely on the program, which allows sick, disabled, and elderly New Yorkers to designate their own caregivers and remain in their own homes.
Despite the fact that nearly 250,000 care recipients and twice as many caregivers rely on CDPAP, the state is looking to eliminate competition and create a monopoly outsourced to a single business that, among other requirements, “is providing services as a fiscal intermediary on a statewide basis in at least one other state.” It should go without saying that this won’t ensure better care; rather, it will diminish the quality and availability of support for the most at-risk populations.