Healthcare agencies across the federal government are bracing for major changes following new cuts announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As reported on by USA Today, the restructuring plan will eliminate 10,000 jobs across agencies like the FDA, CDC, NIH, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, part of what the administration says is a cost-saving move to trim $1.8 billion annually from the federal budget.
But experts warn that these cuts could come at a cost—particularly for low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on public programs for care and support.
Slower Approvals and Delays in Care
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to lose 3,500 employees. While the agency says the cuts won’t slow down drug or device approvals, public health experts aren’t so sure.
Administrative workers might not seem essential on paper, but their absence could create bottlenecks in approval processes that affect everything from prescription drugs to medical devices to food safety.
JP Leider of the University of Minnesota notes, “Getting everybody into the same system means there will be slowdowns. That’s just part of these changes.” Former FDA official Peter Pitts added that trimming staff while setting ambitious goals for improving nutrition and food safety “doesn’t require fewer people—it requires more.”
A Restructured Safety Net for Low-Income Families
As part of the overhaul, HHS will consolidate several departments into a new agency: the Administration for a Healthy America. This division will focus on chronic care, mental health, child and maternal care, environmental health, and services for HIV/AIDS—many of which disproportionately serve low-income households.
In theory, the new structure is meant to streamline programs, but with fewer workers, it may become harder for people to access services quickly or consistently.
For people on Medicaid or Medicare, HHS says the reorganization won’t change services. However, Congress is considering major cuts to Medicaid spending—up to $880 billion—which advocates say could reduce coverage for millions of Americans. Combined with the job losses at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, some worry that even if coverage remains, access to care may suffer.
Cuts to Research and Public Health Preparedness
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to lose 2,400 jobs, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will cut another 1,200. Both agencies play major roles in preventing disease outbreaks, funding biomedical research, and developing public health guidelines.
Leider warns that these cuts could discourage the next generation of scientists and reduce U.S. leadership in global health innovation. “Without the NIH to keep that pipeline going,” he says, “it will be really hard for young scientists with bright minds to do that work in the U.S.”
What These Cuts Could Mean for Everyday Americans
RFK Jr. has pitched these changes as a move toward a more efficient, nutrition-focused health department. But as agencies lose workers and programs are restructured, the real-world impact could be felt most by those already facing barriers to care: low-income individuals, seniors, people with disabilities, and families who rely on federal health programs to get by.
For them, fewer jobs in public health could mean longer waits, fewer services, and fewer opportunities to stay healthy.
