Copyright Hartford Courant
Seventy-two people will be laid off. It comes as CVS Health is laying off dozens of employees that report to the Hartford headquarters of its Aetna health insurance business, a round of job cuts touched off by the loss of a contract involving government health care programs for seniors. CVS said it would layoff 72 workers after losing a contract for its Aetna Medicare Medicaid Program in 2026, affecting employees that are working remotely in three states — Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, according to a notice filed recently with the Connecticut labor department. The majority of the jobs — 44 — are listed as “case manager RN — field” and are located in Ohio. The layoffs are expected to become effective between Dec. 31 and March 31. The job cuts are expected to be permanent. None of the remote workers losing their jobs are based in Connecticut, but they do report to managers at Aetna’s headquarters at 151 Farmington Ave. in Hartford. In a statement Tuesday, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS said it was told in late 2024 by the Ohio Department of Medicaid that Aetna was not selected for a new contract to support beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The coverage was provided through the state’s Next Generation MyCare Ohio program. The layoffs are another in a string of CVS job cuts affecting Hartford, either directly or indirectly. In April, the health care giant said it would cut 55 jobs — all but one living outside of Connecticut but reporting to the Aetna headquarters in Hartford. Those layoffs were tied to the winding down of its Aetna CareFree line of business. Aetna CareFree offers Medicare plans and services to agents who sell health insurance. The layoffs follow a sweeping announcement in September, 2024 that CVS planned to slash 2,900 corporate jobs nationwide, as it struggled with rising medical costs and shifted its focus to its core, or mainstay businesses. Since that announcement, layoffs of hundreds of employees locally — a mix of those working in Hartford and those reporting to the Aetna headquarters — have been disclosed to the state labor department. Despite the employment reductions, Aetna has said publicly to its committed to maintaining a corporate presence in Hartford and throughout the state of Connecticut. Here is the breakdown of the layoffs and where they are located: Sen. Tony Hwang, ranking senator on the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee, and Sen. Stephen Harding, said in a statement about the layoffs, “This drip, drip, drip of significant job losses continues to be troubling. “This is the second time this year that CVS Health has notified Connecticut of layoffs affiliated with the Aetna facility in Hartford,” the senators said. “In order to get its takeover of Aetna approved in 2018, CVS promised to maintain 5,291 jobs at Aetna for at least four years. What’s that number today?” “In the interests of transparency, CVS should disclose its current employee headcount in Hartford.” Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
