Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island Reports Job Cuts and Operating Losses

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 3% amid reports of ongoing operating losses.

The job cuts will impact about 30 of its 946 full-time equivalent employees in Rhode Island, the company said in a statement released earlier this week. The jobs cuts’ primary “focus” is on leadership roles, Rich Salit, a BCBSRI spokesman, said Friday.

Rhode Island’s largest health insurer reported a net loss of $115 million for 2024, which the company said in a statement was due to a nearly 20% increase in health care costs over the previous 18 months. Pharmacy costs for its members rose 14% in 2024, the company said, driven by a surge in health care prices and an increase in its members’ use of health care. Outpatient care also grew by more than 10% over the prior year, the company said.

The job cuts at BCBSRI are among a series of measures, the company said, that it has implemented to “reduce its administrative expenses,’’ including consolidating vendor contracts and “innovations to improve the management of complex conditions and pharmacy costs.” The combined efforts are expected to reduce BCBSRI’s administrative expenses by roughly $20 million a year, the company said.

BCBSRI is among a number of insurers around the country that have recently reported financial problems, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, UnitedHealthcare, and Aetna, the Hartford, Conn.-based insurer owned by Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS.

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.