Payers are continuing to trim their workforces amid financial pressures, Medicaid funding cuts and strategic restructuring.
Below are workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations that were announced or take effect in 2026. Insurance industry layoffs in 2025 are here.
The cuts follow a difficult year for the industry. The insurance sector, which includes life, health and property insurers, lost nearly 28,000 positions in 2025, the first annual decline since 2020, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Editor’s Note: This is not an exhaustive list. This webpage was updated Jan. 29 and will continue to be updated this year.
- Horizon BCBS New Jersey is laying off 242 employees amid broader restructuring efforts at the company, effective in April. Combined with “other targeted actions in 2025,” Horizon has laid off about 8% of its workforce.
- L.A. Care Health Plan is laying off 225 employees by March 13 amid organizational restructuring driven by Medi-Cal budget reductions.
- Blue Cross of Idaho said in January it is implementing “organizational changes” to boost efficiency and lower costs, affecting fewer than 90 roles.
- Aetna is laying off 72 remote employees between Dec. 2025 and March 2026 after the company was not selected for a new contract to support beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid in Ohio.
- Optum is laying off 572 workers throughout New Jersey in early 2026.
- MDwise, part of Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care, is laying off 238 employees in January and will close its office in Indianapolis, according to regulatory documents filed in November.
- UCare is winding down operations in 2026 and selling assets to Medica, a move that affected roughly 250 employees in early January. The company’s exit from the Medicare Advantage market last year impacted 9% of its workforce, and it also laid off 80 employees, or around 5% of its workforce, in September.
