Payers are trimming their workforces and cutting jobs due to financial or operational challenges, along with restructuring strategies.
Below are workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations that were previously announced or take effect in 2023.
Editor's Note: This webpage was updated Nov. 10 and will continue to be updated this year.
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AgeWell, a specialty managed care insurer, is laying off 68 employees at its headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., according to regulatory documents published by the state in October. According to the WARN report, the company's total employee count is 68. The layoffs will take place in phases from Dec. 30 through June 24, 2024.
- Cigna reduced its workforce in October, according to employee social media posts, but the company declined to offer any specific information. A former operational risk senior adviser said on LinkedIn she was leaving the company after an "enterprise reduction in force initiative."
- Elevance Health, previously known as Anthem, and its subsidiaries conducted an unknown number of job cuts in October. Elevance confirmed "recent changes" with Becker's. A former program manager for data quality wrote on LinkedIn that "Elevance Health is releasing over 10,000 employees in a large reduction in force."
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Centene is laying off about 2,000 employees starting Oct. 2, or about 3 percent of its workforce, with employees' last day on Dec. 8.
- Fallon Health Weinberg in Amherst, New York is closing a long-term Medicaid managed care plan and laying off 31 employees before Jan. 12, 2024.
- Aetna laid off employees this fall as part of CVS Health's larger plan to eliminate 5,000 "non-customer-facing positions." The job cuts represent about 2 percent of CVS' overall workforce. CVS filed mass layoff notices in nine states, including for 591 Aetna employees in Hartford, Conn.
- UnitedHealth Group's Optum laid off an unknown number of employees in August. Former employees took to social media regarding a large number of layoffs they said occurred across the company and other subsidiaries. Affected facilities included The Everett Clinic and The Polyclinic in Seattle; Morgantown, W.Va.-based MedExpress Urgent Care; and San Antonio-based WellMed.
- Friday Health Plans laid off all 323 of its employees between June 23 and July 6 as the company shuts down over the course of this year. The company laid off 98 workers in Alamosa and Denver, Colo. in April.
- Highmark Health laid off 118 employees on June 21, including two from Allegheny Health Network. Highmark also laid off 141 workers earlier this year, sparked by changes in the post-pandemic environment.
- Clover Health laid off around 65 employees in April. The company had about 600 full-time employees as of March 30.
- BCBS Minnesota laid off around 80 employees Feb. 9, mostly in the operations division.
- Sana, a startup payer focused on small businesses, laid off 19 percent of its workforce in February. The company employs about 280 people.
- Bright Health laid off 68 employees at its Bloomington, Minn., headquarters April 1. The company laid off 99 employees Jan. 7 and 150 employees in March 2022.
- Humana laid off 1,162 employees in two states by March 6 following the decision to close all its SeniorBridge home care facilities nationwide.
- Blue Shield of California laid off 373 employees across the state, effective Jan. 25.