FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, March 31, 2025
CONTACT: Daniela Perez, [email protected]
NDWA calls for an extension to the transition deadline for participants in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP)
The National Domestic Workers Alliance is calling for an extension to the transition deadline for participants in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) to ensure that tens of thousands of older and disabled New Yorkers do not lose their home care, and hundreds of thousands of hard working home care workers do not lose their jobs.
This rushed transition is a worker justice issue unfolding in real time. It is also a racial and gender justice issue, as home care workers in New York State are 81% people of color, and 88% women. 405,000 personal assistants in CDPAP Black and brown New Yorkers comprise the majority of both home care consumers and caregivers and stand to lose the most at this moment should the deadline not be extended.
NDWA is not only concerned about the interruption in care for older and disabled New Yorkers through this rushed transition, but would like to highlight the urgent threats to the welfare of the direct care workforce, serving the CDPAP program:
- Low Enrollment Rates: Only 5-10% of the 405,000 home care workers who rely on CDPAP have successfully registered with PPL. The company’s online system crashed two weeks ago from high traffic and their Albany office ” remains an empty construction site. With just a week remaining, hundreds of thousands face the imminent loss of income and jobs.
- Lack of Clarity with Governor Hochul’s “grace period” Hochul’s “grace period” is little more than an IOU to hundreds of thousands of home care workers. Existing FIs in the state must still shut down on April 1, which means Personal Assistants who are paid through those FIs and haven’t registered yet will need to rely on retroactive payments to receive wages. Many home care workers live paycheck to paycheck, and the transition threatens ability to meet basic needs, such as rent and groceries.
- Inadequate Health Insurance: Even workers who have managed to sign up could have their health coverage yanked away as a result. The Fiscal Policy Institute revealed last week that PPL’s plans would force downstate workers to pay as much as $1.06/hour for coverage that excludes basic services like primary care and hospital visits, while many will lose their existing coverage entirely. A breaking investigation also casts even more doubt on the health coverage workers will receive, showing the founder of Leading Edge, the company administering worker benefits, is run by an executive convicted of submitting falsified documents to Congress who reportedly helped home care employers evade worker benefit requirements for years.
At a time when Governor Hochul is speaking out against federal attacks targeting Medicaid and other safety net programs, this transition threatens to cause immediate harm to the state’s most vulnerable residents and the direct care workers who support them. NDWA is calling for an extension to the transition deadline and for the State Department of Health to engage with stakeholders to devise a plan that will improve CDPAP and incorporate concerns currently being raised by those who are most impacted by this program. This includes the state ensuring the transition and implementation avoids disrupting workers’ current health insurance.
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National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the leading voice for dignity and fairness for millions of domestic workers in the United States. Founded in 2007, NDWA works for respect, recognition and inclusion in labor protections for domestic workers, the majority of whom are immigrants and women of color. NDWA is powered by over 70 affiliate organizations and local chapters and by a growing membership base of nannies, house cleaners and care workers in over 20 states. Learn more at
www.domesticworkers.org. NDWA is a non-partisan non-profit organization that does not endorse, support, or oppose any candidates for public office.
