major moves involving the state's largest health insurer will affect both workers and patients statewide.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an underwriter of NJ Spotlight News, says it plans to lay off nearly 5 percent of its U.S.

workforce, cutting 242 jobs by late April.

A spokesperson for Horizon points to rising medical costs and higher usage across its plans, saying the company has already cut expenses by hundreds of millions of dollars but still needs to restructure.

All impacted employees were notified this week, including workers at both the Newark and Hopewell headquarters.

But the move also follows a recent $100 million settlement with the state over alleged overbilling without admitting wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, a contract dispute is severing ties between Horizon New Jersey Health Plans and CVS Pharmacy.

Beginning April 30th, CVS Pharmacies will be out of network for more than 800,000 publicly insured kids and adults in the Medicaid and New Jersey Family Care programs here, unless, of course, they're willing to pay full price.

Both companies blame each other for failing to reach a deal on pricing, leaving patients to find new in-network pharmacies before that April deadline.

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