WASHINGTON — As part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce government spending, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has offered a buyout of up to $25,000 to a large portion of its 80,000 employees. These employees are responsible for critical functions such as disease research, food inspection, and the administration of Medicare and Medicaid.
The voluntary separation offer was emailed to staff across the department, including those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), both in Maryland. Employees can begin applying for the buyout on Monday and must submit their response by 5 p.m. on Friday.
The email was distributed to a “broad population of HHS employees” just days before agency leaders are expected to present plans for workforce reduction. HHS, with an annual budget of approximately $1.7 trillion, is one of the largest federal agencies. The majority of its budget is allocated to healthcare coverage for millions enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.
HHS oversees health insurance for about half of the U.S. population through Medicare, which serves older adults, and Medicaid, which provides coverage for disabled and low-income Americans.
HHS provided no immediate comment on Sunday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s health secretary, has previously suggested significant staff cuts. Last year, he stated his intention to eliminate 600 positions at the NIH, the nation’s primary biomedical research institution. While that hasn’t happened, Kennedy reiterated his desire to remove personnel from public health agencies in a recent interview shortly after taking office.
Kennedy mentioned having a list of potential employees to be let go, particularly those he believes “made really bad decisions” regarding nutritional guidelines.
The Trump administration, supported by Elon Musk, has been actively working to reduce the federal workforce as a cost-saving measure. In January, most federal employees were offered a deferred resignation package with eight months’ pay. Additionally, thousands of probationary employees have been terminated across various federal agencies, including HHS.
This latest effort to reduce the number of federal health workers occurs as the CDC is responding to a severe measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico and as lawmakers are debating substantial cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget.
The email instructs HHS employees to contact their local human resources office to apply for the voluntary separation.
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