HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

According to the announcement, HHS will be terminating approximately 10,000 employees.

Additionally, Kennedy is establishing a new agency aimed at enhancing his MAHA initiative.

In a major restructuring effort led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services Department plans to lay off around 10,000 federal workers. This announcement represents one of the largest mass dismissals since President Donald Trump took office, directing each Cabinet department to collaborate with the White House DOGE office and its unofficial leader, Elon Musk. Interestingly, the URL for the HHS announcement incorporates the term “doge.”

The HHS predicts that these layoffs will save taxpayers approximately $1.8 billion annually. Including previous cutbacks and early retirements, HHS will have reduced its workforce by nearly 20,000 personnel. In a video message detailing the decision, Kennedy expressed that HHS had become excessively large without adequately improving the nation’s health outcomes. He stated, “HHS is a sprawling bureaucracy that encompasses literally hundreds of departments, committees, and other offices,” in a video shared on X.

He emphasized that bureaucratic expansion often leads to wasteful duplication and a diluted mission focus, saying, “You know how bureaucracies work — every time a new issue arises, they tack on another committee.”

To address this, Kennedy announced the formation of an Administration for a Healthy America, which will consolidate several agencies, including the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, into a single entity. He also mentioned that the mission of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be redirected to concentrate on epidemic prevention.

This announcement from Kennedy followed the Senate confirmation of Marty Makary as the FDA Commissioner and Jay Bhattacharya as the National Institutes of Health Director.