WASHINGTON — A recent email was sent out to a large portion of the 80,000 federal employees working at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These individuals are crucial to various operations, including disease research, food safety inspections, and the management of Medicare and Medicaid programs. The email offered them a chance to voluntarily resign in exchange for a severance payment of up to $25,000, part of the budget-slashing measures introduced during President Donald Trump’s administration.
Employees can start opting into this resignation offer beginning Monday, and they have until 5 p.m. on Friday to respond. The communication reached staff across the department, which includes major agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) based in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), both located in Maryland.
This mass email targeted a diverse range of HHS employees and came just days before agency officials are expected to announce plans for workforce reductions. HHS is recognized as one of the most costly federal departments, operating with an annual budget nearing $1.7 trillion, primarily dedicated to healthcare services for millions enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The agency oversees health insurance for nearly half of the U.S. population, providing Medicare for senior citizens and Medicaid for low-income individuals and those living with disabilities.
As of Sunday, HHS had not issued an immediate comment regarding the email.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently serving as Trump’s health secretary, hinted at considerable staff reductions on the horizon. Last year, he pledged to eliminate 600 positions at the NIH, which is the nation’s leading biomedical research institute. Though these drastic cuts have not yet been enacted, he recently indicated in an interview that he plans to streamline the workforce at public health agencies.
“I have a list in my mind,” Kennedy remarked about potential layoffs within the agency, claiming that certain employees had made “really poor choices” related to nutrition policies.
The Trump administration, backed by billionaire Elon Musk, has been proactively working to shrink the federal workforce as part of its cost-saving strategies. Earlier this year, many federal employees received a deferred resignation offer that included eight months’ worth of pay. Additionally, numerous probationary employees have been let go across various federal agencies, including HHS.
This latest initiative to reduce the federal health workforce aligns with the CDC’s efforts to manage a serious measles outbreak in regions of West Texas and New Mexico, all while lawmakers are considering significant cuts to Medicaid funding.
In the email, HHS employees were instructed to reach out to their local human resources offices for assistance regarding the voluntary separation process.
