Here’s How RFK Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services Cuts Could Impact Americans

Federal health agencies are undergoing one of the most significant restructurings in decades, with 20,000 positions being eliminated at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The move, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., consolidates multiple agencies under a new umbrella group and is expected to save $1.8 billion annually.

The shake-up impacts departments that oversee prescription drug safety, infectious disease tracking, food supply standards, and public health research. Roughly 10,000 employees are being laid off, with another 10,000 positions shed through early retirements and voluntary buyouts, reducing the workforce from 82,000 to 62,000, according to HHS.

Why It Matters

HHS administers health insurance programs that affect nearly half the U.S. population, including Medicare and Medicaid, and regulates medical products and food. Critics warn that the scale of the cuts could jeopardize disease response capacity, scientific research, and regulatory oversight.

“They may as well be renaming it the Department of Disease because their plan is putting lives in serious jeopardy,” Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, said on Friday.

The restructuring plan creates a new agency, the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which absorbs the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, and several others. HHS said the realignment will improve health for lower-income Americans and improve areas like maternal health, mental health, primary care, children’s health, HIV/AIDS, and environmental health.

What Does HHS Do?

The HHS oversees various programs and regulatory responsibilities. It funds biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), monitors disease outbreaks via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and ensures drug and food safety through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It also manages health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and plays a central role in emergency health responses and health equity initiatives across the country​.

How Many Employees Work at HHS?

Before the current restructuring, HHS employed approximately 82,000 full-time staff. Under the new plan, that number will drop to 62,000, the result of 10,000 direct layoffs and another 10,000 positions eliminated through buyouts and early retirements​.

How Is HHS Reorganizing?

The restructuring, aligned with Trump’s executive order on federal workforce efficiency, aims to streamline the agency’s 28 divisions into 15. Among the most significant changes is the creation of the AHA, which consolidates agencies focused on public and community health. Key support functions like human resources, information technology, procurement, and policy are being centralized.

HHS will also reduce its regional offices from 10 to five and reassign roles such as the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response to the CDC.

HHS will also form a new Office of Strategy by merging research and policy planning units and create an assistant secretary for enforcement to oversee fraud investigations and administrative hearings across Medicare and other programs.

The restructuring is leading to mass layoffs. Departments losing the most personnel include:

• Food and Drug Administration: 3,500 jobs eliminated.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 2,400 jobs cut.
• National Institutes of Health: 1,200 positions lost.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services: 300 positions affected.

Newsweek previously reported that union officials said between 8,000 and 10,000 employees would ultimately be laid off, with positions in human resources, finance, procurement and IT—especially those in high-cost regions or labeled “redundant”—targeted first.

How Will Americans Be Impacted by HHS Layoffs?

The layoffs could slow or disrupt core public health services that many Americans depend on. Experts warn that cuts at agencies like the FDA, CDC, and NIH may lead to delays in drug and medical device approvals, reduced research funding, and diminished capacity to monitor infectious diseases and food safety.

“Getting everybody into the same system means there will be slowdowns,” JP Leider, director of the Center for Public Health Systems at the University of Minnesota, told USA Today. “That’s just part of these changes.”

Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner, told the outlet that staffing reductions could hinder the FDA’s efforts to address emerging challenges, including integrating artificial intelligence into its regulatory processes and improving the safety and nutritional quality of the U.S. food supply.

“The announcement sounds more like a ready, fire, aim proposition,” Pitts said.

At the NIH, the reduction in staff could undermine the development of new medical treatments.

“There’s this idea that for decades we have been a world leader in science and without the NIH to keep that pipeline going, it will be really hard for young scientists with bright minds to do that work in the U.S.,” Leider said.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, warned about CDC reductions and what that could mean for future disease outbreaks.

“If we look at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are discussions of reducing our global work that’s really dangerous,” Frieden told PBS. “It means that instead of finding and stopping threats where they emerge, which is less expensive, safer and more efficient, we’ll have to fight them here within the United States at greater risk and greater expense.”

What People Are Saying

Roger Severino, former director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, told PBS: “If we want to make America healthy again, we have to make HHS healthy again. And there was so much fat in that agency. I was there for four years. I saw the inefficiencies firsthand. This does not help in the delivery of health care.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a press release: “Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants. 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.”

Dr. Tom Frieden, former commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told PBS: “Cuts like these don’t make government stronger. Cuts like these are very disruptive for professionals who devote their lives to protecting Americans and advancing science.

What Happens Next

The restructuring is ongoing and expected to continue through the end of 2025. The newly formed AHA will integrate addiction services and community health centers under a single leadership structure.