August 12, 2025 • 9 mins
Aug. 12, 2025 - For more than a decade, New York lawmakers have tried to secure a compensation boost for home car workers in the New York City area, but those efforts haven't always resulted in more money in pockets, according to reporting by Sam Mellins, a senior reporter for New York Focus.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
For more than a decade, state policymakers have tried to
boost the salaries of home care workers in the New
York City area with a supplemental benefit to ensure they're
making above the state's minimum wage, which is in recognition
to the fact that your dollar typically goes further outside
of the Big Apple and surrounding communities. But this wage
parody hasn't always resulted in money ending up in the
pockets of the workers who are intended to benefit, according
(00:27):
to Sam Mellons, a senior reporter for New York Focus,
which recently examined how this system doesn't always work for
the people intended to benefit. Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Sam, Thanks Dave, good to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's our pleasure. So talk to me about the solution
that state policy makers have tried to implement to address
a wage parody in the home care sector.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So, as you were alluding to in twenty eleven, quite
some time ago now, the state passed a law which
is called wage Parity, which basically creates a special minimum
wage for home care workers in New York City and
the surrounding counties that is a few dollars an hour
(01:10):
higher than the state minimum wage, and you know, pretty straightforwardly,
this was intended to just increase the wages and the
standard of living of people who care for elderly and
disabled New Yorkers, which is, you know, really a huge
workforce that's in the hundreds of thousands statewide, and I
think even in the New York City area.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, that seems pretty straightforward. So has it played out
in straightforward fashion, because based on your reporting, it doesn't
seem like it is.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I think it's a mixed story. I think one of
the reasons for that is because the law had this
maybe well intentioned measure that has really been turned into
a significant loophole by a lot of what I would
call unscrupulous actors, which and the law says you can
(02:00):
provide this wage, you know, like I said, a few
dollars an hour, either in cash that's just you know,
cash in the paycheck of these workers, or in benefits,
so you give them some sort of health plan or
something like that, an HSA at FSA. You say, one
dollar an hour of your check is going into this
FSA or into this health plan. Okay, that seems fine.
(02:24):
But the problem that I was exploring in the article,
which was focused on one of the largest companies that
is working in this space right now. Is that they
and other companies create these health plans that are extremely
difficult to use because either they cover very few things,
(02:45):
or it's very difficult to submit claims, the eligibility is
very narrow, so on and so on, and then workers
are not able to access these funds, or in another example,
it's like a health insurance plan for many workers who
already have health insurance that is better than the plan
that they're being offered, so they don't use this plan
(03:05):
that they're being offered and that their paycheck is paying for.
You know, the numbers that we were working with. We
can't look under the hood of these companies because you know,
they're private companies, but we were able to put together
some estimates based on the available data, and it could
be as much as one hundred million dollars from this
one company, which is called Leading Edge Administrators, that is
(03:27):
meant to go to home care Aids each year, that
is not going to be reaching them.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And when you've spoken with Home Care Aids or tried
to dig up comments from the head of Leading Edge,
does it seem like there is some interest in these
types of benefits, or do the workers want the money
in their paycheck so they can decide what to do
(03:52):
with it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So when I've spoken to workers, they definitely would rather
have the cash money than these benefits that many of
them are unable to to use. You know, for example,
if you're on Medicare, or if you're on the New
York Essential Plan to state funded health plans for low
income people, which most homecare workers are, these plans already
cover everything that Leading Edge is offering to these workers,
(04:14):
so they have absolutely no use for it. And you
go on the Facebook forums for homecare workers, they're you know,
long lists of complaints. Why do I have to pay
for this plan? I already have all the services that covers.
I just want the money. So that's definitely the perspective
from the home care workers when it comes to Leading Edge.
I have emailed them, I've called them, I've gone to
(04:37):
their office, I've sent them mail. I have tried everything
short of carrier pigeon to get a response from these guys,
and I've now been reporting on them for months and
I have heard absolutely nothing from them in response to
any of my questions. But I did go digging and
I found an interview with a leading edge executive in
(04:58):
twenty eighteen that is on YouTube where he's basically asked
this exact question, what did the AIDS think of these
benefits that you offer? And this is a direct quote
from him. His name is Mayor Major. A direct quote
from him that's in my article. He said, the aids
don't want the benefits. They want the money, so from
the horse's mouth.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the aids don't want it. The company knows that
they don't want it. What if anything, are state lawmakers
doing about this, because, as you said, this is something
they're allowed to do in law. Is there any campaign
to change the legislation to simply remove the language dealing
with benefits?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So in twenty twenty, the law was changed to try
to stop practices that look very much like this of
employers basically remitting the money back to themselves. It targeted
a practice that's slightly different from what they're doing now.
It's sort of an open question whether that change would
(06:02):
block the current slate of practices that we've been discussed in.
I talked to one labor lawyer for this article who
said that this seems to her like something the Attorney
General could investigate, So it would be interesting to see
if that happened and what results it produced if it did,
you know, I asked the Attorney General. Of course, they
said they don't comment on things like that. As for lawmakers,
(06:25):
I haven't seen any interest from lawmakers in addressing this issue.
But there is a hearing on the state's Medicaid home
care program, which is known as cd PAP, next week.
You know it's been in Listeners to your show will
know it's been through undergoing a very contentious transition process
(06:46):
for months now, marked by a lot of boon noggles
and a lot of outcry, And this might come up
at that hearing next week. I'd be I'll be very
interested to see if it does.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And in terms of the public's interest in something like this,
are we talking about state funds that are ultimately ending
up in the pockets of companies because we're talking about
people who typically use Medicaid or is this private money?
And maybe we don't care as much?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Right So I just mentioned CDPAP, the state's Medicaid home
care program. You know, for elderly and disabled people, they
get someone, often a family member, to come and care
for them. At home, help them with, you know, the
things that they can't do for themselves. This is an
entirely state funded program to the tune of nine billion
dollars a year. It's really an enormous item. And so
(07:39):
one hundred percent of these dollars that we're talking about
are taxpayer money that is meant to go to these
healthcare workers, but it often is not reaching them. So
I think, I mean, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers
use cd PAP, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers work
for cd paps. So that's a lot of interested parties
right there already. But even if you have no relation
(08:01):
to the program, if you're a New York taxpayer, this
is your money that we're talking about right now.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Is there reason to believe that this dynamic, this failure
to achieve wage parody, is leading to people in the
New York City area leaving the home sector workforce or
maybe not entering it to begin with.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Honestly, these practices have been going on for a while
as far as I'm aware, and during that time, the
home care program has grown enormously, So I don't think
you could say that it's that these practices have driven
people out of the industry. What I will say is,
since I mentioned the CDPOP transition, it used to the
(08:41):
program used to be run by several hundred companies that
contracted with the state. It's now being run by one.
Public Partnerships LLC. The state transition from these hundreds of
companies to one and that company it's a little complex,
but that company, Public Partnerships, hire Leading Edge to run
this benefit program. And since that transition, we have seen
(09:03):
people leaving the program over the last few months. So
it's possible that when there were more options, people could
find one that worked better for them, maybe a company
that would let them keep more of the money. But
now that there's only one option, we do see the
program shrinking.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well. We've been speaking with Sam Mellons. He is a
senior reporter for New York Focus, which you can find
at nysfocus dot com. Sam, thank you so much for
making the time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
My pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Support for the Capitol press Room is provided by New
York State United Teachers, a statewide union of nearly seven
hundred thousand professionals in education and healthcare.
For more than a decade, state policymakers have tried to
boost the salaries of home care workers in the New
York City area with a supplemental benefit to ensure they're
making above the state's minimum wage, which is in recognition
to the fact that your dollar typically goes further outside
of the Big Apple and surrounding communities. But this wage
parody hasn't always resulted in money ending up in the
pockets of the workers who are intended to benefit, according
(00:27):
to Sam Mellons, a senior reporter for New York Focus,
which recently examined how this system doesn't always work for
the people intended to benefit. Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Sam, Thanks Dave, good to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It's our pleasure. So talk to me about the solution
that state policy makers have tried to implement to address
a wage parody in the home care sector.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So, as you were alluding to in twenty eleven, quite
some time ago now, the state passed a law which
is called wage Parity, which basically creates a special minimum
wage for home care workers in New York City and
the surrounding counties that is a few dollars an hour
(01:10):
higher than the state minimum wage, and you know, pretty straightforwardly,
this was intended to just increase the wages and the
standard of living of people who care for elderly and
disabled New Yorkers, which is, you know, really a huge
workforce that's in the hundreds of thousands statewide, and I
think even in the New York City area.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, that seems pretty straightforward. So has it played out
in straightforward fashion, because based on your reporting, it doesn't
seem like it is.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I think it's a mixed story. I think one of
the reasons for that is because the law had this
maybe well intentioned measure that has really been turned into
a significant loophole by a lot of what I would
call unscrupulous actors, which and the law says you can
(02:00):
provide this wage, you know, like I said, a few
dollars an hour, either in cash that's just you know,
cash in the paycheck of these workers, or in benefits,
so you give them some sort of health plan or
something like that, an HSA at FSA. You say, one
dollar an hour of your check is going into this
FSA or into this health plan. Okay, that seems fine.
(02:24):
But the problem that I was exploring in the article,
which was focused on one of the largest companies that
is working in this space right now. Is that they
and other companies create these health plans that are extremely
difficult to use because either they cover very few things,
(02:45):
or it's very difficult to submit claims, the eligibility is
very narrow, so on and so on, and then workers
are not able to access these funds, or in another example,
it's like a health insurance plan for many workers who
already have health insurance that is better than the plan
that they're being offered, so they don't use this plan
(03:05):
that they're being offered and that their paycheck is paying for.
You know, the numbers that we were working with. We
can't look under the hood of these companies because you know,
they're private companies, but we were able to put together
some estimates based on the available data, and it could
be as much as one hundred million dollars from this
one company, which is called Leading Edge Administrators, that is
(03:27):
meant to go to home care Aids each year, that
is not going to be reaching them.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And when you've spoken with Home Care Aids or tried
to dig up comments from the head of Leading Edge,
does it seem like there is some interest in these
types of benefits, or do the workers want the money
in their paycheck so they can decide what to do
(03:52):
with it.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So when I've spoken to workers, they definitely would rather
have the cash money than these benefits that many of
them are unable to to use. You know, for example,
if you're on Medicare, or if you're on the New
York Essential Plan to state funded health plans for low
income people, which most homecare workers are, these plans already
cover everything that Leading Edge is offering to these workers,
(04:14):
so they have absolutely no use for it. And you
go on the Facebook forums for homecare workers, they're you know,
long lists of complaints. Why do I have to pay
for this plan? I already have all the services that covers.
I just want the money. So that's definitely the perspective
from the home care workers when it comes to Leading Edge.
I have emailed them, I've called them, I've gone to
(04:37):
their office, I've sent them mail. I have tried everything
short of carrier pigeon to get a response from these guys,
and I've now been reporting on them for months and
I have heard absolutely nothing from them in response to
any of my questions. But I did go digging and
I found an interview with a leading edge executive in
(04:58):
twenty eighteen that is on YouTube where he's basically asked
this exact question, what did the AIDS think of these
benefits that you offer? And this is a direct quote
from him. His name is Mayor Major. A direct quote
from him that's in my article. He said, the aids
don't want the benefits. They want the money, so from
the horse's mouth.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So the aids don't want it. The company knows that
they don't want it. What if anything, are state lawmakers
doing about this, because, as you said, this is something
they're allowed to do in law. Is there any campaign
to change the legislation to simply remove the language dealing
with benefits?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So in twenty twenty, the law was changed to try
to stop practices that look very much like this of
employers basically remitting the money back to themselves. It targeted
a practice that's slightly different from what they're doing now.
It's sort of an open question whether that change would
(06:02):
block the current slate of practices that we've been discussed in.
I talked to one labor lawyer for this article who
said that this seems to her like something the Attorney
General could investigate, So it would be interesting to see
if that happened and what results it produced if it did,
you know, I asked the Attorney General. Of course, they
said they don't comment on things like that. As for lawmakers,
(06:25):
I haven't seen any interest from lawmakers in addressing this issue.
But there is a hearing on the state's Medicaid home
care program, which is known as cd PAP, next week.
You know it's been in Listeners to your show will
know it's been through undergoing a very contentious transition process
(06:46):
for months now, marked by a lot of boon noggles
and a lot of outcry, And this might come up
at that hearing next week. I'd be I'll be very
interested to see if it does.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And in terms of the public's interest in something like this,
are we talking about state funds that are ultimately ending
up in the pockets of companies because we're talking about
people who typically use Medicaid or is this private money?
And maybe we don't care as much?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Right So I just mentioned CDPAP, the state's Medicaid home
care program. You know, for elderly and disabled people, they
get someone, often a family member, to come and care
for them. At home, help them with, you know, the
things that they can't do for themselves. This is an
entirely state funded program to the tune of nine billion
dollars a year. It's really an enormous item. And so
(07:39):
one hundred percent of these dollars that we're talking about
are taxpayer money that is meant to go to these
healthcare workers, but it often is not reaching them. So
I think, I mean, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers
use cd PAP, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers work
for cd paps. So that's a lot of interested parties
right there already. But even if you have no relation
(08:01):
to the program, if you're a New York taxpayer, this
is your money that we're talking about right now.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Is there reason to believe that this dynamic, this failure
to achieve wage parody, is leading to people in the
New York City area leaving the home sector workforce or
maybe not entering it to begin with.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Honestly, these practices have been going on for a while
as far as I'm aware, and during that time, the
home care program has grown enormously, So I don't think
you could say that it's that these practices have driven
people out of the industry. What I will say is,
since I mentioned the CDPOP transition, it used to the
(08:41):
program used to be run by several hundred companies that
contracted with the state. It's now being run by one.
Public Partnerships LLC. The state transition from these hundreds of
companies to one and that company it's a little complex,
but that company, Public Partnerships, hire Leading Edge to run
this benefit program. And since that transition, we have seen
(09:03):
people leaving the program over the last few months. So
it's possible that when there were more options, people could
find one that worked better for them, maybe a company
that would let them keep more of the money. But
now that there's only one option, we do see the
program shrinking.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Well. We've been speaking with Sam Mellons. He is a
senior reporter for New York Focus, which you can find
at nysfocus dot com. Sam, thank you so much for
making the time. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
My pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Support for the Capitol press Room is provided by New
York State United Teachers, a statewide union of nearly seven
hundred thousand professionals in education and healthcare.
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