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HealthPlus in Flint Township.
(Eric Dresden | edresden@mlive.com)
FLINT, MI - Several months after warning that 500 people could be laid off, HealthPlus has told the state that "voluntary separations" of employees will begin in August and layoffs could begin in September.
The company has said previously that not all 500 positions will be eliminated.
According to the company, roughly 250 employees have expressed interest in a "voluntary employee separation program," which includes severance pay and benefits.
Following the voluntary separations that will begin in late August, layoffs are slated to occur between Sept. 28 and Oct. 9. A federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice has been sent to employees regarding the new dates.
In May, HealthPlus announced it would soon start layoffs with the 500 positions listed with the state, but officials said at the time they did not anticipate eliminating all those positions.
Since the announcement of the layoffs, the company has offered career transition workshops, internal job listing sites for the region, financial and retirement planning workshops and have brought in representatives from Michigan Works! and the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency.
Also in May, the insurance company announced the sale of its Medicaid and MIChild business units to Molina Healthcare of Michigan Inc., a for-profit Medicaid HMO. HealthPlus has more than 90,000 Medicaid and 6,000 MIChild members.
In March, the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services gave HealthPlus 60 days to find a financial partner after losing millions of dollars over a number of years.
HealthPlus was formed in 1979 as a not-for-profit. The company employs more than 500 people in full- and part-time positions in Flint, Saginaw and Troy.
The company had searched for a company to take over assets since March, when the state's Department of Insurance and Financial Services ordered HealthPlus Insurance Co. and HealthPlus of Michigan to stop selling new or renewal policies for its preferred provider organization business.