This takes the cake.
In a baffling explanation Friday, the state Health Department claimed it didn’t make a massive mistake by directing New Yorkers to a Brooklyn bakery and other unlikely shops to sign up for ObamaCare.
The only error, the agency claimed, was that the phone numbers provided shouldn’t have been for the businesses themselves but for the nonprofits overseeing ObamaCare that were supposed to dispatch “navigators” to help the uninsured sign up.
“The phone number was supposed to be the number for the navigator,” said Health spokesman James O’Hare.
He said the hundreds of businesses listed on the official state Web site were merely offered as potential places where applicants and navigators could meet in public — an excuse that left owners of those businesses scratching their heads.
“The only problem is that my location is so tiny that I almost can’t give them the space,” said Carmen Rodriguez, owner of Brooklyn Cupcake in Williamsburg, who learned her shop was included only after being swamped by 150 calls from prospective insurance applicants.
“I’ve only got one table that sits four people. If somebody comes in to sign up, there will be no room for my customers,” she said.
The Brooklyn Perinatal Network, an ObamaCare contractor, provided the name and address of the cupcake shop to the Health Department but never got around to informing Rodriguez. “You’d think they should have called me first, right?” the puzzled baker said.
Despite planning since August, the network’s deputy director, Denise West, said the agency didn’t have enough time to contact business owners before volunteering their shops’ names and addresses to the Health Department as potential meet-up locations.
“We didn’t follow up because we didn’t get a chance to,” West said. “There are some kinks in the system.”
They also never offered to reimburse the sites for the use of their space.
The manager of the Bowery Pharmacy in Chinatown — which was also inundated by ObamaCare calls since being listed — said he couldn’t possibly play host to those looking for medical-insurance information.
“I don’t think I have enough space for them,” said manager Patrick Wu. “I don’t have a spare computer for them to use.”
Wu said he’s frustrated because a state official told him that the shop was listed in error.
“[A Health Department rep] said it’s a mistake,” Wu said.
State Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor (R-Dutchess) said the Health Department’s explanation of the odd situation just raises more questions.
“Who are the actual navigators? Why would they meet with someone to discuss health insurance at a nail spa or a taxi garage?” he asked. “Does that make sense to anyone?”