Health-insurer Humana Inc. announced it is cutting 2,500 positions this year. The move is designed to cut costs and better align the company with its membership, according to a company official.

Humana will negate some of the net job loss by adding 1,100 jobs in “growth areas.” The net loss represents about 5 percent of the company’s overall workforce.

Membership in Humana’s commercial segment fell 6.1 percent to 3.41 million in 2009.

“Today’s announcement reaffirms our commitment to positioning Humana for future growth,” said CEO Michael McCallister. “This regrettable but necessary reduction in our workforce is a direct result of Humana’s need to align the size of our company with that of our membership. We are committed to managing this aspect of our realignment with the utmost care and sensitivity.”