Computer issues are not the only problem plaguing the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. A 228-page list of navigators — businesses and organizations that help people sign up for coverage — on New York State’s health exchange website has turned out to be littered with places whose owners and employees have no clue how to offer health insurance advice.
“I have no idea why I am in the list,” Patrick Wu, manager of the Bowery Pharmacy in Lower Manhattan, said on Tuesday. But he said he had received about 50 calls from people seeking insurance since the exchange went live on Oct. 1.
Sa Sa Cosmetic and Skincare Spa, on East Broadway, is also listed, but a manager who answered the phone on Tuesday giggled as she explained the shop was “for skin,” not for insurance.
At the Style Management taxi garage on West 44th Street, a manager who gave her name only as Stephanie was asked why her employer was on the list. “I don’t even know, to be honest with you,” she said.
Bill Schwarz, a spokesman for the State Health Department, conceded on Tuesday that there were some errors, and said that the state was updating the list “to ensure accuracy and correct any misidentified location information.” The problems with the list were reported on Tuesday by the news website DNAinfo.
Mr. Schwarz said the idea behind using neighborhood businesses was to provide information at places where people would normally go in the course of their lives. While some of the listed businesses may not have been consulted about serving as navigator locations, he suggested that in some cases, the owners had simply failed to tell all their workers. “As such, some employees of these locations may not be fully aware of the enrollment assistance efforts,” he said.
onsidering that 50 organizations and 96 subcontractors were involved in the navigator program, the number of mistakes was limited, he said.
Kamal Jit, who with his brother owns Desi Deli at 724 10th Avenue, said on Tuesday that he did not know how the deli got on the list, although he did not rule out the possibility that his brother might know. In any case, he suggested that the state should correct the list of languages that its website says are spoken at the deli: Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish and Urdu.
“Only Hindi, Punjabi, English and Urdu,” Mr. Jit said. source
