New York health care plans are concerned the company that oversees the state’s $9 billion Medicaid home care program is attempting to violate its own contract.

Public Partnerships LLC wants health plans to pay 55 cents more for workers who care for elderly or disabled New Yorkers who rely on the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP. The company became the program’s sole fiduciary on April 1.

PPL argues the proposed reimbursement rate hike for Managed Care Organizations is necessary to match the state’s scheduled minimum wage hike that will increase by 50 cents an hour starting Jan. 1. But an attorney representing MCOs — which contract with insurers to pay worker wages, administrative costs and more — said the current rates are more than sufficient, and PPL’s request likely violates state and federal antitrust laws.

“Because PPL has seemingly issued a non-negotiable one-size-fits-all approach, it is our view that PPL’s contract demand is anti-competitive and potentially violative of federal and state antitrust laws as well as PPL’s own contract with [the state Health Department],” according to a letter from the New York Health Plan Association sent Dec. 4.

An attorney representing the association wrote that imposing a uniform reimbursement rate on every Managed Care Organization could violate state and federal antitrust laws — saying the increase is unjustified and fiscally irresponsible.

But PPL said in a statement Wednesday the rate hike won’t bring in more profit to the company and does not violate its five-year state contract.

“To ensure that Personal Assistants obtain the full benefit of the minimum wage increase, PPL is raising its MCO rates by $0.55 per hour,” according to PPL. “PPL retains nothing from the increase and every added dollar goes directly to worker pay.”

Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who is running for governor, joined disability advocates in the Capitol on Wednesday fighting for changes to the program. Home caregivers continue to complain of incorrect paychecks, or delays getting the amount owed for hours worked.

“We’re at a place right now where, as discussed in detail today, folks are feeling left behind and unaccounted for,” he told reporters afterward.

During the rally, Delgado signed a figurative letter on an advocates’ poster — pledging to fix the program and increase worker wages, and to tax the rich to protect Medicaid ahead of steep federal cuts.

“There’s going to be $12 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy going into next year, and all the cuts to Medicaid will leave our home care program in shambles if nothing is done,” said Charles Hudson, a CDPAP worker from Syracuse who cares for his disabled mother.

PPL has threatened to terminate its contracts with health plans that don’t accept the new rates, according to the letter, and that the company has never provided evidence that the state Health Department approved its structure of reimbursement rates.

Health Department spokeswoman Cadence Acquaviva said the department approved the rate hike mandated under state law, and state Medicaid has already compensated the plans for the proposed increase.

“These arguments are unfounded and represent yet another attempt to undermine the Department’s work to implement these critical reforms, pulling CDPAP back from the brink of a fiscal crisis by saving $1 billion this year in taxpayer dollars,” Acquaviva said. “…The department remains committed to protecting CDPAP for those who rely on it while reducing the fiscal burden on New York taxpayers, even as bad actors continue their efforts to protect their own financial interests.”

Conservative think tank the Empire Center for Public Policy released an email Tuesday that shows state leaders met with PPL two weeks before passing last year’s budget, which authorized an open bidding process for the Health Department to select a new fiscal intermediary.

Gov. Kathy Hochul spearheaded the transition last year to rein in skyrocketing Medicaid spending. State health and budget leaders maintain the change will save the state $500 million per year.

“These savings are a result of administrative savings achieved by transitioning to a single statewide fiscal intermediary as the per member per month rate was reduced from a range of between $150 to over $1,000 under the previous Fiscal Intermediaries to around $68 under PPL,” according to DOH.

Senate Investigations & Government Operations Committee chair James Skoufis and Senate Health Committee Chair Gustavo Rivera are leading an investigation into Hochul’s administration over allegations of bid-rigging.

“The letter from HPA and the recent email published by the Empire Center are further evidence that PPL is not acting in the interest of New Yorkers — only their own,” Rivera said in a statement Wednesday. “This information raises more questions about PPL’s transparency and accountability to CDPAP — a complex program that hundreds of thousands of patients and workers rely on. Actors in our health care delivery system who seek to profit off working class New York families must face consequences to ensure our tax dollars go toward care, not profit.”

A recent state appellate court ruling rejected an argument alleging a “sham bidding process.” The judge ruled the claim lacked sufficient evidence that PPL controlled the bidding and evaluation process, and that communications between the company and the Health Department amounted to “no more than an expression of hope.”

“This obviously had nothing to do with the procurement process that was implemented by the Department of Health after being passed by the state Legislature,” Hochul’s spokesman Sam Spokony said Wednesday. “New York state rescued CDPAP from a fiscal crisis, protected home care for the people who need it, and saved over $1 billion this year for taxpayers. Anyone trying to undermine our reforms should just admit they want to send CDPAP back to a system where of hundreds of middlemen – including one who recently pled guilty to a $68 million fraud scheme – lined their pockets with millions of dollars and put home care at risk for the New Yorkers it was meant to serve.”

Lawmakers are actively deliberating the next steps in their investigation into the bidding process and expect to announce developments next year.

Delgado, who supports terminating PPL’s contract, said the continuing questions only hurts New Yorkers’ trust of government.

“These are all dynamics that I think beg a lot of questions about whether or not the motivation that we currently have in Albany is generally about elevating and enabling the people and empowering the people, or serving yourself,” he said.