By Emily Hamann
The Bellingham Business Journal

Health services company Cigna plans to lay off 55 workers in Bellingham as it completes its purchase of Sterling Life Insurance Co.

The employees will lose their jobs May 11, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification announcement released Wednesday.

Those workers can apply for positions at Cigna. Cigna does not plan to keep a presence in Bellingham after it closes Sterling’s office at 2219 Rimland Drive, but some workers may be able to telecommute. Others would have to relocate.

Bloomfield, Connecticut-based Cigna bought Sterling from WellCare on July 1 of last year.

As part of a transition agreement, the Bellingham employees stayed employed by WellCare, said Cigna spokesperson Jim Angstadt.

Sterling is in the process of being converted to Cigna’s system, and the insurance company’s claims processing is being moved to a Cigna facility in Austin, Texas. Angstadt said the transition is expected to be complete by the end of April.

According to the Bellingham Herald, Sterling started as Olympic Health Management in 1989, and once, under management of another company, had 715 employees in Bellingham.