On February 25, 2021, CDPAANYS will testify at the Joint Legislative Hearing discussing the dangers of cuts to Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, nursing homes, and the importance of #FairPay4HomeCare.

We propose a number of measures to take to make Medicaid work for New Yorkers.

● The global cap must be repealed. This is a basic and necessary to appropriately fund a program on which one out of three New Yorkers rely, particularly seniors and people with disabilities, whose care costs are disproportionately higher than the general population of Medicaid consumers.

● Repeal the CDPA and personal care assessment overhaul and eligibility cuts in the budget before they are implemented. These cuts reinforce the existing institutional bias and put community-based care out of reach for thousands of people who will still be eligible for nursing home placement. This is wrong in the best of times, but in light of the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a death sentence for thousands of people.

● Invest in CDPA through #FairPay4Home Care. This includes:

○ Ensuring home care workers, including consumer directed personal assistants, earn 150% of the highest minimum wage in a region. This will eliminate the workforce crisis. Current and future consumers will be able to hire and retain enough workers to live safely at home and tens of thousands of workers will be lifted out of poverty, benefitting their families and local communities. It is a matter of economics, equity, and justice that cannot be delayed.
○ Ensuring that managed care and fee for service Medicaid rates are sufficient to account for all of the costs providers incur, and that plans face accountability for unjustified cuts that do not meet this threshold.
○ Creating a dedicated overtime rate. This will offer immediate relief for consumers facing staffing shortages and FIs who cannot afford to provide overtime under the current reimbursement structure, even as DOH changes a decades old rule to prevent FIs from limiting overtime in any way.

You can download the full testimony here.