A further 10,000 full-time federal health workers are set to get the axe through the restructuring of the United States’ health service. This will save taxpayers US$1.8 billion a year, in line with an executive order to cut costs across government departments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a dramatic restructuring in line with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) Workforce Optimization Initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk.
HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the cuts will serve multiple goals without impacting critical services, when combined with its other recent other efforts - including early retirement and the Fork in the Road initiative by DOGE accounting for a further 10,000 full-time jobs vacated.
DOGE's Fork in the Road had, by mid-February, attracted about 3% of the 2.4 million civilian employees of the federal government to agree to resign and keep full benefits until the end of September.
That was well below the administration’s 5-10% target.
So far, the total number of full-time federal health workers has gone down from 82,000 to 62,000 - cutting the HHS workforce by 25%.
DOGE says that it will streamline the HHS functions where “currently, the 28 divisions of the HHS contain many redundant units”.
The restructuring plan will consolidate them into 15 new divisions, including the Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA. It will centralise core functions such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy. Regional offices will be reduced from 10 to five.
The overhaul will implement the new HHS priority of ”ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins”.
It also aims to improve Americans’ experience with HHS by making the agency more responsive and efficient. It also ensures that Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services remain intact.
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” Secretary Kennedy said.
“This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.”
