RFK Jr. to unveil plans to cut 10,000 Health Department workers

By Skylar Woodhouse and Rachel Cohrs Zhang | Bloomberg

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced sweeping cuts to his department on Thursday, the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government’s workforce and responsibilities.

Kennedy plans to cut 10,000 employees, according to a statement from HHS. Combined with other departures from buyouts, the reductions mean the agency will employ 62,000 workers, down from 82,000.

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Kennedy also intends to streamline the department by consolidating its 28 divisions into 15, and cut regional offices from 10 to five.

The department will create a new Administration for a Healthy America division. HHS says the changes will cut costs by $1.8 billion per year.

“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.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported Kennedy’s plans.

Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic with unorthodox views on many public health issues, has vowed to reshape the department and the federal government’s policies, under what he has dubbed a Make America Healthy Again agenda.

In his role, he has control over agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving him oversight over the approval of new medicines, vaccine recommendations and public health guidance. HHS accounts for about a quarter of the federal budget through its control over federal insurance programs for elderly and low-income Americans.

The moves are likely to draw blowback from Democrats and public health advocates already worried about the scope of the Trump administration’s federal cuts, spearheaded by billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort.

Critics have warned that cuts to federal health programs risk impacting food safety, vaccine development and the approval of medical treatments.

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