AI Job Fears Top of Mind for Health Plan Employees

"Is AI going to take my job?" is a question health plan leaders are hearing more often from their own staff, according to Becker's Hospital Review. The anxiety comes against a backdrop of payers across the country cutting jobs, and it intensified after Centene confirmed it is offering buyouts to most employees as its Affordable Care Act business contracts.

That combination of layoffs and rapid AI adoption has pushed employee morale and retention to the top of leaders' agendas. Becker's spoke with executives including those at Sidecar Health about how to keep staff engaged when the technology reshaping their work also feels like a threat to it.

The practical message leaders are pushing is that AI should handle repetitive tasks and augment workers rather than replace them. But with concrete job cuts already happening across the sector, reassurance alone may not settle the question for employees watching their colleagues take buyouts.