March 27 (UPI) — The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced plans to cut 10,000 employees amid an executive order from President Donald Trump to downsize federal agencies.
HHS announced Thursday that it will undergo a “dramatic restructuring in accordance” with an executive order issued in February that federal agencies need to reduce their workforces.
Other employees may be offered early retirement or deferred resignation, which the agency said will reduce its total workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees, purportedly “without impacting critical services.”
HHS further stated that this personnel reduction will “save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year” and “streamline the functions of the Department,” and will make the agency “more responsive and efficient, while ensuring that Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services remain intact.”
The restructuring plan will also combine 28 of the agency’s divisions into 15 new divisions and reduce its regional offices from ten to five.
HHS also noted it will employ a new effort toward “ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins.”
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in a press release. “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.”
