HHS to cut thousands of workers in sweeping reorganization
SUMMARY
On March 27, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., unveiled a sweeping reorganization plan to reduce its workforce by over 20 percent, dismissing 10,000 employees across all agencies. The initiative, aligning with President Trump’s February executive order and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) directives, will shrink HHS from 82,000 to 62,000 workers—the lowest since 2002—and consolidate its 28 divisions into 15, including a new Administration for a Healthy America. The plan includes cutting 3,500 jobs at the FDA, 2,400 at the CDC (merging with the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response), 1,200 at the NIH, and 300 at CMS, with assurances that critical functions like drug reviews and inspections remain intact. Kennedy justified the overhaul as a correction to years of mismanagement, criticizing bureaucratic inefficiencies and industry influence.
