The US Department of Justice has sued top New York health officials over an alleged scheme to rig the bidding process for managing the state’s estimated $10 billion Medicaid homecare program. The lawsuit aims to stop an alleged fraudulent scheme in which Public Partnerships LLC generated millions of dollars of improper profits after being “pre-selected” to take over New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP.

Allegations of Fraud

More than 200,000 patients and more than 260,000 personal assistants participate in the program, state health commissioner James McDonald said in February. The lawsuit seeks to stop PPL’s alleged “siphoning of funds from the federal coffers,” appoint a receiver for the company and halt further alleged fraud.

A spokesperson for New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul said the lawsuit is a “sad attempt by the Trump administration to weaponize the justice system to attack political opponents in an election year.” The Health Department also rejected the lawsuit’s accusations and called the bidding process fair and competitive.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.