Top US health agency makes $25,000 buyout offer to most of its employees
[March 10, 2025]
By AMANDA SEITZ
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most of the 80,000 federal workers responsible for
researching diseases, inspecting food and administering Medicare and
Medicaid under the auspices of the Health and Human Services Department
were emailed an offer to leave their job for as much as a $25,000
payment as part of President Donald Trump's government cuts.
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, and the
National Institutes of Health as well as the Food and Drug
Administration, both in Maryland.
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. 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.
The agency oversees health insurance for roughly half the country
through Medicare for older adults and Medicaid for disabled and poor
Americans.
There was no immediate comment Sunday from HHS.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's health secretary, has hinted at plans at
deep cuts to the staff. 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 last month, Kennedy said he wanted to remove some workers from
the public health agencies.
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walks
to the House Chamber before President Donald Trump addresses to a
joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday,
March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
 “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.
The Trump administration, with the help of billionaire Elon Musk,
has been trying to push out federal workers in an effort to cut
costs. 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 latest move to reduce the number of federal health workers comes
as the 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.
HHS workers are directed in the email to reach out to their local
human resources office to submit for the voluntary separation.
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