HHS to cut about 10,000 full-time employees

After cuts, the agency will have about 62,000 people — down from 82,000.

The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Thursday that about 10,000 full-time employees will soon lose their jobs, on top of the nearly 10,000 who have already left the agency in the last few months through buyout offers or early retirements.

That puts the total employees at around 62,000 people — down from 82,000 at the start of the Trump administration. The agency oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — among other divisions.

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The Department of Health and Human Services building is seen in Washington, April 5, 2009.
Alex Brandon/AP

“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,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said in a statement on Thursday.

“This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said.

Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. peaks as President Donald Trump hosts a cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Mar. 24, 2025, in Washington.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Kennedy claimed the latest cuts will save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year. The cuts will reduce the number of regional offices — from 10 down to five. It will also combine the current 28 divisions at HHS into 15 divisions, including a new one focused on Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, to be named the Administration for a Healthy America.

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Despite cutting nearly one-quarter of the agency, the department maintains that the restructuring won’t impact “critical services.”

The real-world impact of the newest round of cuts, however, remains to be seen. Already, cuts have hit top researchers at the National Institute of Health’s Alzheimer’s research center and disease detectives who identify new infectious diseases.

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