Nearly 80,000 federal health employees offered buyouts to resign
The roughly 80,000 federal workers who research diseases, inspect food and administer Medicare and Medicaid through the Health and Human Services Department have received an email offer for them to leave their job in exchange for a $25,000 payment.
The latest buyouts at HHS, which is led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
The mass email went out to a "broad population of HHS employees," landing in their inboxes days before agency heads are due to offer plans for shrinking their workforces.
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HHS buyouts
What we know:
Workers cannot start opting in until Monday and have until 5 p.m. on Friday to submit a response for the so-called voluntary separation offer. The email was sent to staff across the department, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, both in Maryland.
President Donald J Trump congratulates Robert F. Kennedy Jr., moments after he was sworn in as Health and Human Services Secretary in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday, Feb 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washing
What we don't know:
It’s unclear what mass buyouts and resignations will mean for health services in the nation: The agency oversees health insurance for roughly half the country through Medicare for older adults and Medicaid for disabled and poor Americans.
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There was no immediate comment Sunday from HHS.
What's next:
HHS workers are directed in the email to reach out to their local human resources office to submit for the voluntary separation.
What they're saying:
Kennedy has hinted at plans for deep staff cuts. Last year, he promised to immediately clear out 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s biomedical research arm. He has not gone that far, but in an interview last month shortly after being sworn in, Kennedy said he wanted to remove some workers from the public health agencies.
"I have a list in my head," Kennedy said of potential firings at the agency. He said some workers "made really bad decisions" on nutrition guidelines.
What does Health and Human Services do?
The backstory:
HHS is one of the government’s costliest federal agencies, with an annual budget of about $1.7 trillion that is mostly spent on health care coverage for millions of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.
Caroline Kennedy calls cousin RFK Jr. a 'predator'
Caroline Kennedy wrote a scathing letter Tuesday encouraging the U.S. Senate to deny the nomination of her cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to be President Donald Trump's health secretary. In the letter to senators obtained by the Associated Press, she called Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a "predator" who is addicted to power.
The latest move to reduce the number of federal health workers comes as the CDC is assisting with a deadly measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico and as lawmakers are debating deep cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget.
Big picture view:
The Trump administration, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk, has been trying to push out federal workers. They say it’s an effort to cut costs and eliminate wasteful spending.
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In January, most federal employees received a deferred resignation offer that came with eight months of pay. Thousands of probationary employees, too, have been fired across federal agencies, including at HHS.
The Source: This report includes information from The Associated Press.