We find ourselves bemused by the wholly expected partisan reaction to news that the U.S. Department of Justice is suing New York for allowing widespread fraud in its Medicaid programs to continue.

In a statement to the Associated Press, the state Health Department said the lawsuit was “baseless … inexcusable and completely lacking in merit.” It said the claims were “the latest attempt by Washington Republicans to score political points at the expense of vulnerable New Yorkers.”

That’s an interesting stance for the Health Department to take, because New York Republicans weren’t the only ones scratching their heads over New York’s decision to contract with Alpharetta, Georgia-based company Public Partnerships LLC to administer the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP. In 2024 the state partnered with Public Partnerships LLC to serve as the state’s sole broker rather than contracting with hundreds of agencies to administer CDPAP, which uses Medicaid funding to allow family members to provide care to disabled New Yorkers, which keeps them at home versus in a private institution.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, was among those critical of the decision in real time. So was Sen. Gustavo Rivera, D-New York City and chair of the Senate Health Committee. In fact, during debate on the proposal with Borrello, Rivera was openly critical of the change – though he voted for it anyway. Borrello, among other things, criticized a change in state law that prevented the state Comptroller’s Office from reviewing the contract before it was signed.

“I am in agreement with you,” Rivera said. “We should have, everywhere state dollars are being used, we should be able to have oversight; and particularly if we’re talking about in the case of the comptroller, whose level of expertise is to make sure money is being spent wisely that having them there the entire process (is good). And, lastly, I would say having them in a process that could potentially mean billions of dollars of Medicaid, both state and federal, dollars flowing to a particular entity, having the comptroller involved at that point, I’m fully in agreement with you. I would say that was not my idea.”

We can’t say the Justice Department isn’t acting politically, especially given recent history. But in this case even Democrats raised their eyebrows at the process that was used to shift the CDPAP program’s administration to Public Partnerships LLC. If taxpayers weren’t protected before the contract was signed, they should be protected now by making the state show its work in court.