Tampabay.com
DECEMBER 11, 2008

HM uh-oh! State workers steered to sex line

What's so hot and sexy about an HMO enrollment card, anyway? About 21,000 state workers found out when AvMed, one of the state's HMO providers, sent out ID cards with a new member services number containing an incorrect prefix (it's an 888 number, but the ID cards said 800). Customers who called the number heard a sultry female voice say, "Hey, hot sexy guy ..."

"The number belongs to a different vendor, one that the state clearly does not endorse or support," wrote Cathy Schroeder of the state Department of Management Services. AvMed noted that correcting the mistake was at the company's expense, not taxpayers'. Read AvMed's letter of apology here.

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