It’s another sign of tough economic times: a Southeast Missouri employer will lose 125 employees due to fewer customers.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has announced to its Cape Girardeau employees that it’s cutting 92 workers who handled calls from health-care providers and 33 people who processed medical claims. The cuts mean almost half of the company’s cape work force — 40 percent — will be jobless.
Spokeswoman Debbie Wiethop tells Missourinet affiliate KZIM Anthem has lost about 4 percent of its customer base just in the last year.
“I think it’s been the economy nationwide,” Wiethop says. “We’ve found something interesting, our retention rate is very good, it’s just that when [employers sign up for employee benefits], they have fewer employees.”
Anthem workers are also being let go in Springfield, Mo., though to a lesser extent, and in Worthington, Ohio.
Wiethop says some of the claims processing jobs are being relocated to Anthem’s operations center in Indiana.
Anthem has about 34 million members nationwide.
Hunter Hendricks, KZIM, contributed to this report.