Christina Jones was laid off at 56 from her business analyst role at UnitedHealth Group after 15 years with the company. A year of fruitless interviews followed before she accepted a patient safety associate post at a hospital, a role that came with a 60% pay cut. She and her husband are now selling their home.
‘I wasn’t shocked’ by the redundancy itself, Jones said. What she did not expect was how the job market would treat her. ‘I truly believe it was because I was applying at 56,’ she told Business Insider. ‘It seems like whenever a potential employer finds out my birthday, they don’t call me back, or the rejection email comes in.’
Jones, now 57 and based in Philadelphia, cannot prove age played a role in each rejection. But the pattern she describes, reaching interview stage only to go silent after employers learned her date of birth, mirrors a concern raised repeatedly by older job-seekers. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which protects workers aged 40 and over from discrimination in hiring, but proving intent remains difficult.
What Being Laid Off at 56 Actually Costs
The financial consequences for Jones and her husband have been sharp. They have stopped eating out, cancelled their annual passes to Longwood Gardens, and cut most discretionary spending. Their house is going up for sale. One source of relief: their youngest child recently turned 18, ending financial dependants they had previously supported.
‘There have been a lot of moments of doubt and worry about how we’re going to get through this time,’ Jones said. ‘The biggest thing I feel is anger.’
The anger is directed less at UnitedHealth Group specifically than at a hiring culture she believes is quietly closing doors on experienced workers. She says she kept encountering roles that matched her background precisely, only to be screened out before a phone interview.
UnitedHealth Group has faced its own pressures. The company reported full-year 2025 revenues of $447.6 billion, up 12% year-over-year, according to UnitedHealth Group’s 2025 full-year results release, with earnings from operations of $19.0 billion and a net margin of 2.7%. Despite that revenue scale, Becker’s Payer reported, citing Bloomberg, that the company is limiting employee pay raises to between 0% and 2% in 2026 while also carrying out an unspecified number of redundancies.
The cuts are not new. Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s services arm, conducted at least two rounds of layoffs in 2024, including reductions of more than 100 employees that affected behavioural health managers and roles at Optum-owned Landmark, an in-home medical group, according to Behavioral Health Business. For workers like Jones who are laid off at 56 during such rounds, re-entry into a comparable role has proved far harder than the initial redundancy suggested.
A Side Business and an Unfinished Job Hunt
Jones landed her hospital role in October 2025, after her mother’s hospitalisation brought her into contact with nurses who encouraged her to apply. She took the job knowing the pay was well below her previous salary. She has not stopped applying for healthcare IT positions since.
In parallel, she and her husband have been building an entertainment company they founded in 2018, focusing over the past year on acquiring more clients. It does not replace her former income, she says, but it provides a sense of purpose and a degree of financial contribution.
‘My advice to other 50-somethings is if you can’t get back into your career, find something else that brings joy to others in the meantime,’ Jones said. ‘Don’t give up. If you stay positive and focused on your next step, each day will be better. Even though we’re in our 50s, we’re not done yet.’
Her message to hiring managers is direct: many workers in their 50s are not looking for a wind-down role. They want to keep doing work they know well and pass on that experience to younger colleagues.
Jones remains employed at the hospital while continuing her search. Whether a healthcare IT employer eventually calls back will depend partly on whether the sector’s appetite for experienced mid-career hires shifts, or whether Jones finds a way around gatekeepers who, she believes, stop reading the moment they see her age.