Health Care Company Bringing Call Center To Rancho Cordova; 500 New Jobs Expected
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - A new health care call center is coming to Rancho Cordova and bringing in hundreds of new jobs in the next few months, which is already generated big buzz.
"I definitely would be interested because I was one of the people laid off when we had the layoffs going," said Stephanie Brown, who is looking for work.
After two years of searching, Brown, who has experience as a medical biller, hopes this may be the answer to her prayers.
The empty building doesn't look like much now, but soon it will be packed with people.
Covered California is helping implement the new federal health care program and announced plans to hire 500 workers for a Rancho Cordova service center.
"We didn't have to do much to bring them to Rancho Cordova," said Curt Haven, Rancho Cordova Economic Development. "They saw the value of Rancho Cordova on their own."
The city's no stranger to the health care industry, with call centers for Dignity Health, Sutter Health, Delta Dental and Vision Service Plan.
Covered California says it needs call center agents, managers and IT specialists. It's something Chris says he would look into, admitting he's struggling to make ends meet living on disability.
"It's not enough money being on SSI, you know? I've got a daughter. I could probably do something better," he said.
And, of course, Chris isn't alone setting his sights on a new opportunity.
"Five-hundred jobs, that's a lot of different opportunities," said Brown.
The 60,000-square-foot call center is set to open around August. It's one of two call centers to open statewide, putting hundreds of people back to work.
A location for a second Covered California call center hasn't been made public, but an announcement is expected soon.
The news comes as unemployment numbers took a hit in the Sacramento region in January. The number of jobless went up to 10.3 percent in the first month of 2013 compared to 9.7 percent in December. Most of the job losses were in retail, nearly 4,000. However, it's still better than the same month a year ago when the jobless rate was 11.4 percent.
