When Louisiana’s Medicaid contract with Healthy Blue ends on December 31, 216 jobs at Elevance Health’s Metairie office end with it. Elevance filed a layoff notice with the state on September 15, and the cuts take effect December 31, 2026. The company is leaving Louisiana’s Medicaid business after serving it since 2012.
The same date decides what happens to Healthy Blue’s Medicaid members. Louisiana’s health department says Healthy Blue stops being available to Medicaid members on January 1, 2027. Members have until November 16 to pick a new plan, or the state picks one for them.
A contract ends, and the jobs follow
Becker’s Payer Issues reported on September 21 that Elevance is winding down its Louisiana Medicaid business. Healthy Blue is a joint venture of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Elevance, and its state contract expires at year’s end. The 216 layoffs are in Elevance’s Metairie office.
The WARN tracker Kadoa lists the Louisiana notice as 216 workers, filed September 15, effective December 31, with the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s WARN list as its source. WARN is the federal law that makes employers announce mass layoffs ahead of time. The list also shows 85 Elevance jobs cut in Washington, D.C., with a notice filed July 27.
An Elevance spokesperson said the company’s focus “remains on serving Medicaid members through December 31, 2026,” Becker’s reported. The spokesperson noted Elevance has served Louisiana Medicaid members since 2012, and dual-eligible members through Healthy Blue since 2017. Dual-eligible members are people on both Medicare and Medicaid.
For a Healthy Blue member, the open question is which plan keeps their doctor and their pharmacy, and the choice window closes November 16. For one of the 216 Metairie employees, it is a different question: what the household does when the paycheck stops December 31. The notice gives the date. The household budget has to cover what comes after it.
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What 290,000 Healthy Blue members have to do
Becker’s puts the number of Healthy Blue Medicaid members at more than 290,000. Louisiana’s health department, in Informational Bulletin 26-12 issued September 1, says current Healthy Blue members can choose a new plan from October 15 through November 16, 2026. Only Healthy Blue members get that special window.
The bulletin lists three ways to choose: call 1-855-229-6848 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., go to myplan.healthy.la.gov, or use the Healthy Louisiana app. Members who make no choice are assigned to another plan starting January 1. The state says it tries to keep families together and to match members to a plan where they can keep their current providers. After assignment, members can still switch online or by phone.
The bulletin also says the receiving plan honors Healthy Blue prior authorizations for up to 60 days or until the authorization end date, whichever comes first. Pharmacy authorizations last through their expiration date, and standing transportation orders move over automatically. Members in a hospital on December 31 transfer to the new plan at 12:01 a.m. on January 1.
Louisiana has lost more than one Medicaid insurer this year
Becker’s says Louisiana’s Medicaid contract with UnitedHealthcare expired March 31, 2026. With Healthy Blue gone at year’s end, Becker’s says the state is down to four remaining managed care plans.
Elevance has signaled that Louisiana is not the last market it is leaving. In July the company announced the 85 job cuts in Washington, D.C., tied to its exit from that district’s Medicaid program, Becker’s reported. It said further Medicaid pullbacks should be expected over the next 12 to 18 months.
Kadoa’s page shows earlier Elevance notices too: 59 workers at Woodland Hills and 64 at Cerritos, California, in October 2024, and 87 more in California in October 2023. Counting Louisiana and Washington, D.C., it lists five Elevance notices across three states, covering 511 workers.
For the 216, the dates that matter are not far off
Layoff notices in Louisiana are collected by the state workforce commission, which keeps the WARN list Kadoa draws from. The filing date of September 15 and the December 31 effective date put 107 days between the filing and the last day, which is more than three months of warning. That is the time to learn what benefits a household can draw on once income drops.
Becker’s did not report any severance or transfer terms for the Louisiana workers. The company’s statement to Becker’s talks about serving members through the end of the year. The written terms for employees would come from Elevance itself.
The open question for these workers and their families is the one every layoff raises. If the Metairie job ends on December 31, which benefits can the household count on, and when does each application have to go in? The state and the programs set those rules. The employer’s notice only sets the clock.
Does the Metairie job end on December 31?
A layoff date of December 31 leaves workers with a few weeks of warning and a long list of programs that each have their own forms and income tests. Missing the window on one of them can mean a month without help that was available.
The Benefits Checklist scans 11 benefit programs and lists the 2026 income limits for each one, so a household can see which programs fit a post-layoff income. It also includes a printable application tracker for keeping the dates in one place.
Map the 11 benefit programs before December 31 with the Benefits Checklist →
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
