Report accuses Andrew Cuomo of mishandling nursing Home policies, calls for accountability

A new congressional report has reignited the debate over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo controversial nursing home policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The memo, released by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, criticizes Cuomo and his administration for their decisions surrounding nursing home admissions and calls on them to take responsibility for policies that many believe worsened the pandemic’s toll on the elderly.

“When Andrew Cuomo issued the nursing home order, we all knew that it was devastating,” said Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro, who was the Dutchess County Executive during the 2020 pandemic. The March 2020 directive, which required nursing homes to admit patients regardless of their COVID-19 status, has been a focal point of criticism for years, with opponents arguing it contributed to unnecessary deaths.

Cuomo and his aides, however, have maintained their stance that the decision aligned with federal guidelines. But the report dismisses that defense, citing top federal health experts who disagree. “When he says that the language of the directive mirrored that of the CDC and CMS guidelines, it did not, it simply did not,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican committee member.

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According to transcripts, former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and Seema Verma, ex-administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, both rejected Cuomo’s claims that the policy followed federal guidance, insisting it led to avoidable deaths.

The report also highlighted an email, believed to reflect Cuomo’s thoughts, in which the governor’s office acknowledged the potential damage to his public image. “This is going to be the greatest difficulty in the history books. We’ve got to, you know, this is going to overwhelm all the positive things we’ve done,” read a message attributed to Cuomo’s assistant, Stephanie Benton.

The memo is the culmination of months of investigation by the bipartisan subcommittee into the origins and impact of the March 25, 2020, nursing home admission order. Cuomo’s administration is accused of altering the way deaths were reported, which lowered the official toll by excluding residents who died after being transferred to hospitals.

Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s former top aide, is singled out in the report as a key figure who “spoke with the voice” of the governor. During her interview with the committee, DeRosa reportedly claimed not to remember some of the critical decisions made during that time.

Cuomo’s spokesperson pushed back on the findings, calling the subcommittee’s conclusions politically motivated. “After wasting millions of taxpayer dollars with federal and state investigations that found no evidence of wrongdoing, this MAGA Congressional Committee came up short on verifying the big lie they’ve been peddling for years,” the spokesperson argued.

Despite Cuomo’s defense, the report has intensified calls for accountability, especially from the families of those who died in nursing homes. Rep. Malliotakis further criticized the administration for underreporting nursing home deaths, suggesting it was done to avoid federal scrutiny. “You have a governor who’s running around with a $5 million book deal while thousands of people died, and that’s not right,” she said.

As Cuomo prepares to testify before the committee in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, the former governor’s pandemic-era policies remain a contentious issue that continues to reverberate in political and public health discussions across the country.