The nation’s top health agency, Health and Human Services (HHS), is offering employees a $25,000 buyout to leave their jobs. The HHS Department has over 80,000 federal workers responsible for researching diseases, inspecting food, and administering Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the Associated Press, health and human services employees can begin opting into the buyout by Monday. Staff will have until 5 p.m. Friday, March 14, to submit a response to the voluntary separation
offer. The email was sent to staff across the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, both based in Maryland.HHS is reportedly one of the federal government’s costliest agencies, with an annual budget of $1.7 trillion. Most of the budget is spent on healthcare coverage for the millions of people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.
More Health and Human Services Cuts Likely
The buyout emails for federal employees come as no surprise, as the Trump administration is slashing the federal workforce in a cost-saving effort. Billionaire Elon Musk is leading the effort through the Department of Government Efficiency.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump’s controversial health secretary, hinted at plans to cut staff at the department. He promised to immediately cut 600 employees at the NIH, the department responsible for the nation’s biomedical research.
“I have a list in my head,” Kennedy said regarding potential cuts, adding that some workers “made really bad decisions” on nutrition guidelines.
The move to cut the number of health workers comes amid a deadly measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico. The latest numbers show nearly 200 cases in Texas and 30 in New Mexico.
More cuts are likely as lawmakers consider deep cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget.
HHS workers were told to contact their local human resources office to submit their bid for the voluntary separation.
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