The secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has launched a sweeping reorganization, ordering layoffs, agency mergers, and office closures that have caught even senior officials off guard.
In short:
- Kennedy's plan eliminates 10,000 jobs and merges the department's disaster preparedness agency with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with little advance notice to staff or Congress.
- Employees across HHS, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the abrupt cuts could compromise drug safety, emergency readiness, and essential public health functions.
- The overhaul reflects broader Trump administration efforts to weaken the role of career public health officials and centralize political control over HHS operations.
Key quote:
“There’s this narrative being spun that somehow by eliminating jobs and functions that taxpayer dollars are going to be saved or that programs will be more efficient. The reality is the exact opposite.”
— A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services staffer
Why this matters:
HHS is the nerve center of the nation's health infrastructure, overseeing everything from emergency disease response to drug safety and food inspections. Now, under a sweeping reorganization led by the Trump administration, parts of HHS may be broken up or consolidated in the name of cutting what officials call bureaucratic “redundancies.” But public health experts and former agency officials warn the plan could fracture a system already strained by rising chronic illness, post-pandemic mental health needs, and increasingly urgent climate-driven health threats like extreme heat and poor air quality.
Learn more: Trump administration ends $12 billion in health grants, halting disease and addiction efforts
