GE Healthcare layoffs to affect 35-40 in Madison

Madison, Wis. — GE Healthcare, which has around 900 employees in Dane County and more than 6,000 in southeast Wisconsin, is laying off 35-40 Madison workers, unnamed sources told The Capital Times.

"There is an overall weakness in the U.S. healthcare market, with governments, insurance companies and state legislatures taking a number of actions aimed at reducing the amount spent on hospital procedures," Brian McKaig, GE Healthcare's director of public relations, said in a statement last week. "In addition, since 2007, the U.S. market for anesthesia equipment has experienced a slowdown."

GE Healthcare's company's CEO also recently left for a Swiss engineering firm, ABB, and was replaced by the CEO of GE's transportation business.