WASHINGTON — A significant email was recently sent out to the vast majority of the 80,000 federal employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These employees are crucial to various essential functions, including disease research, food safety checks, and the management of Medicare and Medicaid. The email offered them a voluntary resignation option, with a financial incentive of up to $25,000, as part of the budget-cutting strategies initiated by President Donald Trump.
Employees are eligible to respond to this offer starting Monday, with the deadline for submissions set for 5 p.m. on Friday. This communication reached personnel across the entire department, which includes important agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 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 group of HHS employees and comes just days ahead of expected announcements from agency leaders regarding plans for workforce reductions. Notably, the HHS is one of the most financially demanding federal agencies, operating with an annual budget nearing $1.7 trillion, with a significant portion dedicated to healthcare services for millions who rely on Medicare and Medicaid.
The agency oversees the health insurance needs of nearly half of the U.S. population, providing Medicare to seniors and Medicaid to low-income individuals as well as those with disabilities.
As of Sunday, there had been no immediate comments from HHS regarding the email.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., currently serving as Trump’s health secretary, hinted at the potential for notable staff reductions. Previously, he had committed to cutting 600 positions at the NIH, which is the nation’s leading biomedical research institute. Though such sweeping layoffs have not yet been executed, he recently expressed intentions to streamline the workforce within public health agencies.
“I have a list in my mind,” Kennedy remarked when discussing potential layoffs, suggesting that some employees have made “really poor choices” regarding nutrition policies.
The Trump administration, with backing from billionaire Elon Musk, has been actively pursuing reductions in the federal workforce as part of its cost-saving measures. Earlier this year, many federal employees received an offer for deferred resignations that included eight months of salary. Additionally, multiple probationary employees across various federal agencies, including HHS, have faced termination.
This latest initiative to scale back the federal health workforce coincides with the CDC’s efforts to tackle a serious measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico, all while lawmakers consider significant cuts to the Medicaid budget.
In the email, HHS employees were instructed to reach out to their local human resources office for further information on how to navigate the voluntary separation process.
