Kennedy slashing 10,000 jobs in health department overhaul
Kennedy said he was reorienting the health department to battle chronic illness.
- The restructuring will cut the HHS headcount from 82,000 to 62,000 employees.
WASHINGTON ‒ Health and Human Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday he will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs from the Cabinet department in a dramatic reduction that includes closing half its regional offices as part of a wider Trump administration overhaul of the federal government.
Combined with HHS employees who previously accepted buyouts and others who were already fired, the agency's workforce will be sliced by one-quarter from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000 since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The Department of Health and Human Services ‒ which oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ‒ will consolidate the agency's 28 divisions into 15 new divisions in Kennedy's shakeup. This includes a new Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA, to carry out Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda.
The department plans to close five of its 10 regional offices and centralize key functions such as human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs, and policy. HHS officials insisted the restructuring will keep Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services "intact."
The moves, which drew immediate backlash from Democrats, come as Kennedy is under intense scrutiny in his role as the nation's top health official, given his lack of medical and public health experience and long record of anti-vaccine statements.
Kennedy's changes are intended to reflect a new priority of "ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins," the agency said.
“We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in a statement. “This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
Among the cuts in key divisions:
◾The Food and Drug Administration will terminate 3,500 full-time employees. The reductions will not affect drug, medical device, or food reviewer or inspectors, the agency said.
◾The CDC is set to reduce its workforce by 2,400 employees. In addition, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which currently operates in the U.S. Public Health Service, will move to the CDC.
◾The National Institutes of Health will terminate 1,200 employees. This will be done by "centralizing procurement, human resources, and communications across its 27 institutes and centers," HHS said.
◾CMS, which oversees Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, will cut 300 employees. Medicare and Medicaid services "will not be impacted," the agency said.
A full breakdown of the positions eliminated in these agencies was not immediately available. Kennedy said the layoffs and restructuring will save $1.8 billion a year.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said the layoffs and office closure will hurt families who depend on public health services.
“These offices work closely with communities to make sure child care, hospitals, and nursing homes are safe, strengthen rural health care, and much more," Wyden said in a statement. "The chaos that is coming will guarantee that kids and seniors fall through the cracks with deadly consequences.”
The cuts are part of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to purge the federal workforce. Trump ordered large-scale "reductions in force" of career federal employees across the government after agencies previously targeted recently hired or promoted probationary workers.
Kennedy's new AHA division will combine offices in HHS that address addiction, toxic substances and occupational safety, among others, into one central office, the agency said.
The Trump administration has fired tens of thousands of workers in recent weeks, but two federal judges this month ordered the reinstatement of probationary workers who were cut. The Trump administration this week appealed the matter to the Supreme Court after an appellate court upheld a lower federal court's ruling.
Contributing: Reuters.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
(This story has been updated with more information.)