What is the “Administration for a Healthy America”?
This is a new organization that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aims
to create, consolidating the functions of many federal health organizations and
cutting significant staff. The
Guardian reports:
Robert F Kennedy Jr said the nation’s health agencies will cut 10,000 jobs from their 82,000-person workforce – an enormous reduction the US health secretary characterized as streamlining federal bureaucracy amid internal resistance to the administration’s agenda.
The cuts announced on Thursday, along with previous restructuring and voluntary buy-outs, mean the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will lose roughly 20,000 workers.
Kennedy said the department will also close half of its regional offices and create a new agency called the “administration for a healthy America”, or AHA.
Where are the cuts coming from? The Wall Street Journal (via the Advisory Board) reports that these cuts include:
3,500 full-time employees from FDA (around 19% of its workforce)2,400 employees from CDC (around 18% of its workforce)1,200 employees from NIH (around 6% of its workforce)300 employees from CMS (around 4% of its workforce)
Job cuts will not affect FDA’s inspectors or drug, medical device, or food reviewers.
The Administration for a Healthy America will combine the following agencies into one entity:
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for HealthThe Health Resources and Services AdministrationThe Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services AdministrationThe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease RegistryThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
HHS released a fact sheet with more details.
