US health insurer Aetna is to cut 6,000 jobs, nearly one-sixth of its work force, in an attempt to halt continuing losses.
The company, which is battling rising medical costs and struggling to shed unprofitable membership in government-sponsored plans, said it planned to take a fourth-quarter charge of $125m (£86.5m) for the job cuts.
The Connecticut-based company, the largest health insurer in the US, said it would axe 4,400 jobs and shed a further 1,600 through natural attrition from its current workforce of 37,000. The reductions will begin in the fourth quarter and continue through 2002.
Chairman and chief executive John Rowe said in a statement that the job cuts were part of an effort "to properly align our business resources with lower membership levels and our stated goal of emphasizing profitability over size."
Aetna's turnaround is focused on consolidating the health insurance businesses it has acquired over the past several years.
On 7 November 2001, when it posted third-quarter results, Aetna said the premium increases it had implemented had started to have an effect.
Although rising medical costs have hit all health insurers, many of Aetna's competitors, including second largest UnitedHealth, have been able to show profit growth by pushing through higher premiums.
