Alabama BlueCross cuts jobs, citing economic downturn - The Business Review (Albany):

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The state’s largest health insurer has cut human resources positions in recent weeks and has told employees jobs will be slashes in itsclaims department. BlueCrosas has a June 15 meeting in which healtnh management provider service department employees are expectedr to learn if they will be impacteds bythe layoffs, according to sources who spoke on the conditioj of anonymity. BlueCross’ claimd department personnel attended a June 4 meetin in which employees were told only eightg jobs were available to bid on ina 200-person sources said. BlueCross managers told employeees many businesses are turning to electronic decreasing the need for paper recordsadministered in-house.
Increasinyg unemployment figures coupled with corresponding rising uninsured rolls callfor belt-tighteninyg measures for insurance companies, publifc health professor Dean G. Smith said. BlueCrosd said it is “reviewing the scale of our administrative to be properly aligned with its customer base and itscorporatew mission. Without providing specific numbers on anticipatecjob cuts, it said its personnel adjustments are in response to decliningb customer levels. It blamed the recession and the state’s escalating unemployment rate for the job Inan e-mailed statement, BlueCross said it is “nogt immune to these challenging and difficulgt times.
“We too are being affectedr by the current economic downturn and the doubling of the unemployment rate in Alabamz over the last12 BlueCross’ statement read. “Many of our customers have had to reducew their work force and this has resultedr in some having to drop their healthcare Alabama’s unemployment rate was 9 percent in April up from 4.5 percent in April 2008. BlueCross of Alabama said it has 3,40p employees in Alabama. In 2008, BlueCross had 3,000 local according to research. It held 96 percen of the small business health insurance market in the statein 2007, the most recenft data available shows.
In BlueCross reported $4 billion in premiu m revenue, up from $3.5 billion in 2007. Its $28.6 millionn 2008 net income resulted in a profit margij of less than one half of 1 Thinning profit margins are troubling for insurance Universityof Michigan’s Smith said. Insurance firms generally aim for profitf margins in the 2 percent As unemploymentrates rise, the numbed of insured declines, which takex a toll on an insurer’s bottokm line, Smith said. He said cuts are in response to theslumping “Too few people insured means fewer people neederd to manage the business as volumw decreases,” Smith said.
“They also might be tightening theie belt a little bit in anticipatiomn to what might be downthe road. When you have less businesz you needfewer workers. That’s good