Thread regarding City of Minneapolis layoffs

Minneapolis-based nonprofit health insurer UCare is dropping about 88,000 Medicaid enrollees in 11 Minnesota counties starting September 1, 2025, due to deep financial losses in its government-funded programs. The affected counties include Ramsey, Benton, Chisago, Crow Wing, Pennington, Roseau, Sherburne, Stearns, St. Louis, Wadena, and Wright. This marks a major contraction in UCare’s service area for both the Prepaid Medical Assistance Program (PMAP) and MinnesotaCare. The insurer, which already announced 80 job cuts and suspended broker commissions earlier this year, will still manage Medicaid benefits for roughly 250,000 Minnesotans, including those in Hennepin and 44 other counties. While Medicaid remains its largest business line, UCare is also a key player in Minnesota's Medicare Advantage market with about 180,000 seniors enrolled and will maintain its private individual and family coverage through MNsure. The Minnesota Department of Human Services is assisting affected residents with plan transitions to Medica or Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. UCare’s financial pressures stem from a mismatch between rising patient care costs and inadequate state reimbursement rates. Unlike other major regional insurers such as HealthPartners, Blue Cross, and UnitedHealthcare, UCare does not sell commercial group plans, and prior expansion efforts in Kansas and Iowa failed to produce meaningful returns. Founded in the 1980s by University of Minnesota physicians, UCare was the sixth-largest nonprofit in the state by revenue in 2023, bringing in $6.2 billion.