MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | UCare to Permanently Lay Off 102 Workers as Minnesota Health Plan Continues Wind-Down

UCare plans to permanently eliminate 102 jobs as the Minneapolis-based health plan continues winding down operations following its court-approved rehabilitation. The layoffs are expected as UCare ends support for Medicaid contracts acquired by Medica.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (August 8, 2026). UCare will permanently lay off 102 employees this fall as the Minneapolis-based health plan moves deeper into the wind-down of its operations, according to a newly filed notice with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice is dated August 3 and identifies UCare's headquarters at 600 Stinson Boulevard in Minneapolis as the affected employment site.

The reductions are tied to the continuing transition of UCare business following the health plan's placement into rehabilitation in December 2025.

UCare said its support for Medicaid contracts acquired by Medica will cease October 1, triggering the elimination of 102 positions.

The layoffs are permanent.

WORKERS ACROSS NUMEROUS FUNCTIONS AFFECTED

The reductions are not confined to a single department.

UCare's filing lists affected positions across care coordination, customer service, member services, health improvement, quality improvement, billing, auditing, credentialing, utilization review, transportation and other operations.

Among the affected job classifications are care coordinators, care managers, member service representatives, health improvement specialists, utilization review specialists, billing and accounting personnel and social determinants of health staff.

The notice also covers employees who work primarily or entirely from home.

Employees' final working days will occur throughout October, according to the filing, with one employee expected to continue working into November.

Affected employees will continue receiving pay through their required notice periods.

UCare said none of the workers covered by the notice are represented by a union and that employees do not have bumping rights, which would otherwise allow some workers to displace employees in other positions based on seniority.

A HEALTH PLAN BEING DISMANTLED

The layoffs represent another stage in a dramatic transformation of an organization that has been part of Minnesota's health insurance landscape for decades.

UCare Minnesota was placed into rehabilitation on December 17, 2025.

A court subsequently approved a rehabilitation plan in April 2026 providing for what the WARN notice describes as the "orderly wind down" of UCare's business.

Medica acquired certain UCare state contracts and assets, while UCare continued providing services during the transition.

That transition is now approaching another major milestone.

According to the WARN notice, UCare's support for the transferred Medicaid contracts ends October 1.

That change directly produces the 102 layoffs disclosed this week.

WHAT HAPPENS TO UCARE MEMBERS?

The company's operational wind-down does not mean every health plan carrying the UCare name immediately disappears.

UCare currently tells members that its Individual & Family and Medical Assistance plans are continuing in 2026 under Medica, with members instructed to continue using their plans through UCare during the transition.

Several other UCare products had already closed at the end of 2025, including UCare Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplement plans, Minnesota Senior Health Options and Connect + Medicare plans.

The distinction matters for consumers because an employment reduction at the organization does not necessarily mean a person's current insurance coverage has abruptly ended.

Members should rely on communications specific to their individual plans and contact the customer-service number on their insurance cards with coverage questions.

102 JOBS, AND A LARGER MINNESOTA QUESTION

For the affected employees, however, the latest development is considerably more immediate.

More than 100 jobs connected to a longstanding Minnesota health organization are now scheduled to disappear permanently.

And the reductions arrive while Minnesota is already confronting larger questions about consolidation and structural change across its health care system.

Hospitals, insurers and health networks are undergoing mergers, acquisitions, financial restructuring and operational changes capable of reshaping where Minnesotans receive care, who administers that care and who remains employed to provide it.

UCare's latest WARN notice puts another number on that transformation:

102 Minnesota workers.

Their jobs are expected to disappear beginning this fall.

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