Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield has sent layoff notices to around 75 of its employees, roughly 2 percent of its workforce, on the heels of a disastrous three quarters last year.
The company ― officially USAble Mutual ― posted revenue of $3.14 billion in 2023 but suffered steep losses in revenue over the first three quarters of 2024. Per Arkansas Business, the company reported to the Arkansas Insurance Department a net loss of $100.5 million for those nine months. By comparison, the firm reported net income of $94.7 million for the first three quarters of 2023 and finished the year with net income of just $13.2 million.
Responding to emailed questions by Arkansas Business, ABCBS spokeswoman Max Greenwood said, “The reduction in workforce was due to changing conditions in the market and increasing financial pressures primarily due to health care costs jumping to the highest levels in more than a decade.”
ABCBS also has seen “large increases” in the use of all medical services, especially prescription drugs, and lost tens of thousands of members as result of the state’s disenrollment of more than 400,000 people on Medicaid in 2023, the newsmagazine reported.
Photo by Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Mike Keckhaver
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