By skyforbes 
April 1st was the original date when New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Department of Health directed all Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) consumers and personal assistants to immediately transition to Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), the new statewide fiscal intermediary (FI). Within a few hours, PPL was besieged with phone calls and emails from personal assistants complaining about getting blocked from clocking in, paperwork still not processed, and consumer care getting delayed. On the bigger stage, the Memorial Day deadline for Congress to agree upon a domestic spending policy bill that includes cuts to Medicaid is looming.
Early last month, before the resolution passed both the House and Senate, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Medicaid advocates and experts in a Virtual Disability Town Hall to hear the firsthand experiences of people with disabilities about getting out of institutions and how Medicaid cuts put the disability community at risk.
Denise DiNoto, a community volunteer at The Rotary International Foundation in Rochester, New York, said she would not be able to engage in the world if she didn’t have Medicaid and access to homecare. The CDPAP user explained that she didn’t use Medicaid when she was growing up because her parents were blue collar…