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.
“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.
Amanda Seitz, The Associated Press
