Covered California, the Golden State’s Obamacare exchange, posted an incorrect phone number on it website, sending hearing-impaired residents to a chat service with “hot ladies” instead of to insurance navigators.
CBS13 of Sacramento reports that on the last day of open enrollment, Jeff Brown called the phone number listed on a page where users can calculate the cost of coverage only to be greeted by “America’s hottest talk line.”
Brown called the number twice, thinking he dialed something wrong by mistake, but both times was met with the following greeting: “Welcome to America’s hottest talk line. Ladies, to talk to interesting and exciting guys free, press one now. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you. Press two to connect free now.”
The number listed on Covered California’s website was 1-888-899-4500, only one digit off from the navigator number of 1-888-889-4500.
A Covered California representative told CBS13 in an e-mail, “We’ve never had the incorrect number on our site.” However, CBS13 took a screenshot showing the incorrect number on the Covered California site.
The spokesman then wrote another e-mail saying, “After investigating it further, we are reviewing the shop and compare tool as an incorrect number. We’re currently working to correct the problem.”
The mistake has since been fixed.