UnitedHealth Group has started offering buyouts to a number of workers and layoffs might eventually be coming, depending on how many people opt for voluntary separations.

The Eden Prairie-based health care giant did not say how many buyouts it's targeting as part of what the company is calling a "voluntary resignation separation program," a source tells the Minnesota Star Tribune.

CNBC first reported the buyouts and possible layoffs on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter who referenced an internal resource site.

Current and former company employees, as well as their associates, have been contacting the Star Tribune this week, as well, about the buyouts and potential layoffs. For those who take a voluntary separation, additional severance would be included based on their tenure with UnitedHealth Group.

"This voluntary option is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure our team is best positioned to meet the evolving needs of the people and customers we are honored to serve," the company said in a statement. "We continue to grow our workforce and hire talent based on the needs of our business."

UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest companies in the U.S. and Minnesota's largest company by revenue.

In April, company CEO Andrew Witty said the company employed about 400,000 people — a figure down roughly 10% from the 440,000 listed in a regulatory filing as the 2023 year-end headcount. One factor was UnitedHealth Group's divestiture of its large hospital and clinic business in Brazil.

UnitedHealth Group is the parent company of a health services business called Optum as well as UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurer. The company did not say how many jobs might be cut at its Minnesota operations, where about 19,000 people work.

Last year, Optum announced it was eliminating more than 800 jobs in New Jersey, California and Ohio.

Currently, a company website lists 3,418 openings at UnitedHealth Group, down from more than 3,600 openings in September.

UnitedHealth Group is facing headwinds due to rising medical costs as well as questions about whether the health insurance industry needs reform to address patient concerns over denials of health insurance coverage.

Late last year, a wave of public anger crashed over the insurance industry online and in social media following the murder of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare chief executive and Maple Grove resident shot repeatedly on Dec. 4 on a sidewalk in New York City.