From the New York Post: Rep. Elise Stefanik is demanding the feds ramp up its probe into alleged Hochul administration bid-rigging on a $1 billion Medicaid homecare contract — after newly surfaced emails revealed state officials met with reps for the winner two weeks before bidding began.
Stefanik — an upstate Republican planning to challenge Democratic Gov. Hochul in next year’s gubernatorial race — sent a Dec. 9 letter to US Attorney General Pamela Bondi saying “recent bombshell allegations have surfaced” — including a April 4, 2024 email from the state Health Department’s Medicaid Chief Operating Officer Amanda Lothrop to top executives at Georgia-based Public Partnerships LLC.
In the email, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request by government watchdog group Empire Center for Public Policy, Lothrop invites PPL reps to an online meeting with her and three other state officials.
“Thanks so much for taking time to connect,” Lothrop wrote. “We look forward to continuing the discussion about your FMS [financial management services] experience and our NY considerations.”
In exposing the email, the Empire Center explained that “FMS is short for “financial management services,” a term that includes the type of work PPL now provides for CDPAP under a five-year contract worth just over $1 billion.”
The Empire Center further explained the bid-rigging scheme:
On April 19, 2024, legislation authorizing the consolidation plan as a last-minute budget amendment in the Legislature – part of a larger bill on health-related matters. It passed both houses later that same day, leaving virtually no time for public comment on its details.
The final plan did require the Health Department to solicit competing proposals, but on limited terms. Among other requirements, applicants had to show that they already had a similar statewide contract in another state, a rule that eliminated all but a few companies.
This is illegal AF and @GovKathyHochul needs to be fitted for an orange jumpsuit…
Email Confirms Early Contact Between NY Officials and CDPAP Contractor – Empire Center for Public Policy https://t.co/VZt5jLvDz5 pic.twitter.com/3WLBem6x7j
— MeanGene 🇺🇸 👊MAGA 45-47 (@MeanGene212) December 13, 2025
The on-line meeting, initiated by DOH’s No. 2 Medicaid official, Amanda Lothrop, also included Medicaid director Amir Bassiri and two advisers to Gov Hochul as well as several representatives of the would-be contractor, Public Partnerships LLChttps://t.co/4MaI3GVcLn
— Bill Hammond (@NYHammond) December 9, 2025
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