Wisconsin taxpayers are about to entrust more than $1.4 billion in Medicaid funding to a company now facing allegations from the U.S. Department of Justice that it participated in an ongoing Medicaid fraud scheme in New York.
Last week, the DOJ filed suit against Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), the company recently selected by the Evers-Rodriguez administration to become the sole fiscal agent for Wisconsin’s IRIS program—a Medicaid-funded long-term care program that allows seniors and individuals with disabilities to remain in their homes while directing their own care.
Under the contract, PPL will oversee payroll processing, employment paperwork, and other administrative functions for approximately 30,000 IRIS participants and tens of thousands of caregivers across Wisconsin. The arrangement places one company at the center of a program expected to manage more than $1.4 billion in taxpayer funds annually.
Now that company finds itself in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors.
According to the DOJ, PPL played a central role in a scheme involving New York’s $10 billion Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, a Medicaid program similar in structure to Wisconsin’s IRIS system. The lawsuit alleges New York officials manipulated the procurement process to steer the contract toward PPL, effectively ensuring the company would emerge as the winner of a lucrative state contract. Federal prosecutors argue the arrangement enriched favored interests while putting Medicaid beneficiaries and taxpayers at risk.
PPL denies the allegations and maintains it was selected through a fair and competitive process.
Regardless of how the lawsuit ultimately plays out, the allegations are drawing renewed scrutiny to Wisconsin’s own decision to award PPL one of the largest contracts in state government.
The warning signs were flashing long before DHS announced its decision.
Earlier this year, reporting by the MacIver Institute detailed concerns about PPL’s record administering similar programs in other states. Those reports cited allegations of payroll delays, underpayments, technical failures, service disruptions, lawsuits, and complaints from caregivers who said they went weeks without receiving paychecks.
But concerns extended beyond PPL’s operational record.
The MacIver Institute also raised questions about Wisconsin’s procurement process itself. According to MacIver’s reporting, PPL maintains close financial ties to Public Consulting Group (PCG), whose executives continue to hold a significant ownership stake in the company. During the IRIS bidding process, PCG partnered with Wisconsin DHS on a presentation at a national home-care conference while the state’s contract competition was still underway.
MacIver also reported on PPL’s longstanding relationship with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the nation’s largest and most politically influential labor unions. SEIU and its affiliated organizations have been major financial backers of Democratic candidates and causes, including Evers
Those ties drew additional attention because of what happened in New York. After PPL secured a similar consumer-directed care contract there, SEIU successfully organized home-care workers and negotiated wage increases that ultimately increased costs for taxpayers. Critics of Wisconsin’s arrangement warn that the same playbook could be used here, driving up Medicaid spending even further.
Those concerns arrive as Medicaid programs nationwide face increased scrutiny over waste, fraud, and oversight failures. States such as Minnesota and California have faced investigations and audits tied to allegations of misuse of taxpayer dollars, weak internal controls, and inadequate program oversight.
The lack of transparency surrounding the State of Wisconsin’s contract with Public Partnerships LLC has raised significant concerns for both taxpayers and families who rely on IRIS to be able to provide quality in-home care for their loved ones.
Federal prosecutors are now alleging that the same company Wisconsin selected to oversee one of its largest Medicaid programs benefited from a flawed procurement process in another state. At the same time, Wisconsin officials have yet to fully answer concerns about PPL’s performance record, its political connections, and the circumstances surrounding its selection for the IRIS contract.
For taxpayers and the thousands of families who depend on IRIS services every day, the stakes are too high for those questions to be dismissed. With more than $1.4 billion in public funds and the care of some of Wisconsin’s most vulnerable residents on the line, state leaders owe the public a clear explanation of why PPL was chosen—and how they intend to ensure the problems seen elsewhere are not repeated here.
