On Wednesday, a federal court hearing was held to bring the state Department of Health closer to settling a case filed by Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program users who believe their rights were violated.
“This is not only a public issue of concern," said Attorney Edward Wipper in the hearing.
Wipper represented a class member objecting to the settlement. He also represents Caring Professionals, a former fiscal intermediary with stake in the state’s transition to one fiscal intermediary.
“This is a public issue of concern that relates to the most vulnerable population of people. One could imagine elderly and disabled people who are receiving the most personal type of home care one can receive from family members. And the stated goal of the entire litigation was to leave no one behind," Wipper said.
Earlier this year, the state moved from over 600 companies, called fiscal intermediaries, running its Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP, to just one. The attempted 3 month timeline to move over a quarter million disabled people and their personal care aides over left a lot of consumers confused, frustrated, and having issues with accessing the home care the program is meant to provide.
This federal lawsuit ultimately extended the transition from three months to eight. But some class members shared Wednesday through their attorneys, that this still wasn’t enough time and they feel there hasn’t been enough transparency in the data provided.
The plaintiffs in the case still contend that the proposed class action settlement remedies the key issues addressed in this case, particularly that disabled consumers of the program have a right to due process before losing services. The proposed settlement ensures notice about fair hearings before losing services will be sent.
“We're going to obviously start working right away to try to get this thing wrapped up," said Federal Judge Fredrick Block, towards the end of the hearing.
The hearing was held to hear concerns from class members, but initially was derailed when hackers took control of the call and began playing pornographic, antisemitic and racist videos. After the hackers were booted from the call, the attorneys said their piece. Block said he wanted to give a final call for concerns to be filed.
“But look, people have an opportunity to have their last words if they want. Okay, I think that's fair," Block added.
Judge Block decided to hold his decision for a week, giving anyone involved in the case to file any final concerns or considerations.
