Thread regarding Elevance Health (Anthem) layoffs

@28t oh with permission from a VP like Morgan you will likely get permission to interview for a position beyond the stated Pulse Point rule - but you are wasting your time - you will not get it - and there are many people I know who have tried and failed and they know this is a fact. It also puts a stink on you for "failure to show the ability to advance" so it is a double slap. In other news some of the frankly stupidest people who parrot talking points just got promoted. Gurl you know who you are.

@ts Also, in many cases you can NOT be considered for any new role if you are outside of the 50 mile radius of an office. It's very frustrating for those hired fully remote. Also, with the office closures, many more people have become fully remote. Talk about attrition in the workforce...

It is a joke to call Marathon as Advanced Primary Care. There is only one provider that too a NP i think. I did a walk in last week and the person told me, "it is not an ER or Urgent care to walk in and get treated. You should get an appointment".

So this will be my new PCP. No thanks.

What is this to see a pcp and between 22-64 you pick up 40%as copay. How is this not age discrimination in reverse? It’s also financially horrible!

@OP
Interested parties should check out healthcare dive and submit a tip. Someone may or may not get back to you.

Goodwill "dumpster" in lot near the office downtown - stopped on the way home to drop off unneeded items - it was full of Elevance and Anthem swag - cups, tote bags, t shirts - socks - etc -- mind you when I say "full" its a big container - but this was in several large bags scattered across it - both names so clearly this was from person/s who have been here for more than a minute - hmm

Employees who were hired fully remote and never went in an office who lived within a one hours drive were forced to go into an office one day a week - then 3- then for 8 hours and then had to be certain days of the week. I predict the Marathon radius will be increased - it is how they slowly roll out the cr-p policies and boil the frog slowly.

@h1 if they are owned by Elevance is this somehow a kickback for them? That makes this whole thing seem even more sketchy than it already is.

@k4 After I got RIF'd, I took my most recent anniversary gift, the only one I still had, and smashed it with a sixteen pound sledgehammer! Very Cathartic, indeed.

@k4 If I had a dollar for everytime I sent swag to people and they ended up on the next RIF list, massive waste indeed. Even if people use them, they're sure to toss them in the bin once they get the 15 minute call with their boss, with a sneak attack from HR.

@k4 PP john was out of TP, so that cup sleeve came in handy! Didn’t flush very well, though.

@k1 Nobody will use those propaganda coffee cup holders and they will go to the local landfill after open enrollment is over. Great use of company funds.

@k0 or a total Cher-gasm fest!

@jz Coffee cup holders in the PP today with the new health benefits branding on them. Sweet! Completely re--rded.

@jz Likely resulted from a fever dream after endless watching of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s video for Relax.

@hz I sense Liberace’s DNA all over those product names.

@h1 Marathon Health is a private company backed by majority equity owner General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, alongside other key minority and institutional investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Oak HC/FT.

@fn

• Reach (around as Elevance as--ults you from behind)
• Flex (as you be-doverfor Elevance)
• Focus (on something other than the pain)

Marathon Health is owned by Elevance. It is a joke that they call it “advanced primary care” yet the pulse point closest to my house doesn’t even seem to employ an MD on site. The next closest one does seem to have an MD on site yet you cannot make an appointment with them, only an NP or PA. This is a scam to force us to non MD care for company profit.

One option, sign up for a lower cost plan and get concierge care. Have concierge care MD order every lab you have ever wanted at Marathan which are $0 cost to you today (and will surely be capped at some point).
.

@d7 " Emergency Room copays soaring to $400–$500."

Just a little correction, ER copays are now $500 ("reach" and "focus") $600 ("flex") in 2027.

@ex hmmmmm, I thought the advantage was supposed to be the Health of Humanity! LOL

@b2 the company already has access to our health records; the big advantage of marathon (to the company) is the capitated rate structure.

@ea Liberace will announce brand new company stores where you can spend that scrip for all of you and your family’s needs! Unfortunately, the clothing section is limited to vest jackets and extra jumbo unisex jumpsuits - both exclusive GB brand, made in Indonesia.

The next sketchy HR move is to replace our paychecks with company scrip.

Yeah, let me go to the strip mall clinic site that will likely be there a year, maaaaybe 2, with a single nurse practitioner onsite for my "advanced primary care." Sure makes sense for me to replace my nurse practitioner, who has been my primary care provider for 9 years, who is at the the medical practice I have gone to since I was TEN years old, is a group practice with about 20 providers ON SITE, and is affiliated with the medical center that has all of the records of my br---t cancer imaging, testing, surgery, monitoring, etc etc. Let me get right on that because their strip mall care sure sounds more advanced that what I have access to. This decision was made by an absolute clown.

@dz I was making a joke, but you’re right, in general. However, if involved in handling worker’s comp claims, disability claims, or medical leave, HR most certainly would access PHI. Even that is too much for him!

@ds I don’t think Lyin’ Ryan will have access to PHI.

@b2 Raise your hand if you want Liberace to have access to your PHI!

1. Frustration Over "Forced" Narrow Networks

Employees express intense frustration over being steered almost exclusively toward the Marathon Health network. Because Elevance is an insurance provider, staff feel trapped by a total lack of competition during open enrollment. Those with complex or established medical needs feel penalised for wanting to keep their own trusted, independent community providers due to the steep cost differentials

1. Skyrocketing Out-of-Pocket Costs

Discussions surrounding recent corporate benefits calls highlight a sharp rise in user cost-sharing. Employees are reporting:
• Emergency Room copays soaring to $400–$500.
• Stricter, more aggressive utilization management (frequent coverage and claim denials, despite being insured by the very healthcare company they work for).
• Higher premium deductions eating directly into stagnant merit raises

1. Historical Deterioration of Choice

The backlash builds upon a multi-year trend of benefit reductions. Long-term employees frequently note on forums like Reddit that older, more comprehensive options (like HMO plans) were entirely eliminated, leaving only high-deductible HSA and restrictive PPO models. Concurrently, strict caps on PTO accruals and the elimination of the old "PTO cash-out/sell-back" policy remain lingering points of resentment.

@OP

The fact that HR is promoting Marathon is a big red flag. HR does not exist to help you. Marathon does not exist to help you. Do not give them your data. Your health is the most important thing you have.

@aq Heck, these CEOs & CFOs could afford to have a personal Nurse Practitioner with them at all times, checking their blood pressure, watching their diet, taking blood samples to send to the lab, etc.

Or actually they could probably even have a Medical Doctor in an H-1B Visa with them at all times.

@ap Yeah, I'd lay good money on them paying for concierge care.

One way or another, they are not remotely impacted by this.

@ae they probably don't even use the company insurance and have concierge healthcare providers

Which is great for them but the rest of us peons are stuck in healthcare purgatory

@ak "The company should have sent out an anonymous survey asking us what we think about the quality of the provider before forcing us to go to them."

Why would they ever invite honest, potentially negative feedback? All the surveys we're inundated with, you can see very clearly the answers they expect to receive. They never ask a question looking for honest, boots on the ground feedback. The surveys themselves are just so they can pretend to the street that they care about us.

This company has fallen so far from where it was when I joined; every year they manage to dig down deep enough to find a new bottom.

And if someone from HQ is reading this thinking, "well, why don't you all just leave, then?" It's a combination of hoping (probably in vain) that you get your wits about you again, while also navigating a terrible job market. I also think there's a measure of, "you obviously want us to quit, so you can just go to the trouble of riffing us and paying unemployment/severance."

Any company who comes to thelayoff and sees people hoping to be on the next list should take a good, long look at themselves, though under the current SLT, it's obvious this isn't going to happen.

I don't know about all the Marathon offices but the one in my Pulsepoint has a bad doctor and I am not going to him. The company should have sent out an anonymous survey asking us what we think about the quality of the provider before forcing us to go to them. They need to replace some of the medical staff.

And what happens when we leave EH and don't have access to a Marathon office and our previous pcp isn't accepting new patents? Leadership doesn't care.

It is comical they make a big deal about us being able to pick our plan this year because if we have a plan more suited for our own situation we will get the right care at the right time. Meanwhile they are forcing us to use pcps we don't want to use and charging us a lot more. Make it make sense.

@ad I'll also add that the people who came up with this brilliant scheme probably have a top-tier plan the filthy masses cannot take advantage of, and if they don't, well, $100 to see a PCP is no skin off their nose. When your comp package is 7 or 8 figures, what do you care about swiping the credit card for $100?

He-l, if they don't have a separate exec plan, they can easily afford concierge care.

This doesn't impact me because I'm fortunate enough to not be within 10 miles of a clinic (or even 30), but I know it's gravely impacting several colleagues, and a few brave people on Pulse are likewise sharing how negatively it will impact them to be forced away from their established PCPs into a private-equity owned, capitated rate, assembly line environment.

The complaints I'm hearing:

Being established with a PCP who is no longer accepting new patients, so not being able to get back in with them if/when Anthem realizes next year this was a terrible plan;

Being established with a PCP within a medical group, with the Marathon mandate eliminating multiple providers' ability to refer to and communicate with each other through mychart;

Being forced, theoretically, to choose between 1) paying $100 to see the established doctor across the street or 2) going into a Pulsepoint when they're sick, in order to see someone there;

Many Pulsepoint clinic locations only having one doctor on staff;

People with chronic conditions being managed by long-time providers now forced to see the equivalent of an urgent care PA (at least when it comes to their knowledge of said associate's chronic conditions), with no reassurances that said doctors can manage that care or how they'll refer out when needed (and who they'll refer TO)

That's just a few. It's basically equivalent to the company telling us that we have to have our healthcare managed by a CVS minute-clinic. People are already talking about going on spouses' plans or not seeing the doctor at all, which I'm sure corporate loves reading - not a bug, but a feature.

And if you want the media to pick this up, I'd suggest reaching out to health reporters directly, because it's not like elevance is sending out press releases.

I'm sure this seemed like a great idea when that committee got together to figure out how to increase shareholder value while growing their own bonuses, but the result is going to be losing employees - whether by virtue of attrition or death. Which again, is probably not something they'll lose sleep over, and instead will high-five about.

But hey! They increased the amount they'll pay for fertility treatments by a couple thousand bucks! Woo.

This company doesn't care about its employees. That was obvious with all of the outsourcing and offshoring of American jobs over the past decade. Executives just care about their own financial success.

Private equity owned, so expect the subway treatment

The executives want to be paid their bonuses. This all you need to know.