President Donald Trump’s dismissals at the Department of Health and Human Services included the entire division responsible for setting federal poverty guidelines. These guidelines dictate eligibility for health programs benefitting tens of millions of Americans, including Medicaid, food assistance, child care, and various other services, as reported by former staff members.
The small group, known for its technical data expertise, operated within HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). Their sudden termination mirrored other layoffs throughout HHS, leaving officials confused about the reasons for their “RIF,” or “reduction in force,” the bureaucratic term for such dismissals.
“I suspect they targeted offices with ‘data’ or ‘statistics’ in their names,” noted a social scientist among those laid off, who requested anonymity to avoid potential backlash. “It seemed arbitrary, based on what we understand.”
Among those let go was Kendall Swenson, who had led the development of the poverty guidelines for many years and was viewed as the foremost expert on the topic, according to the aforementioned social scientist and two academics familiar with the HHS team.
The disbanding of this office could result in reduced assistance for low-income families next year unless the Trump administration reinstates these positions or reallocates their responsibilities, warned Robin Ghertner, the former director of the Division of Data and Technical Analysis, which oversaw these guidelines.
The poverty guidelines are “essential for many individuals and programs,” stated Timothy Smeeding, a professor emeritus of economics at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin. “If you’re considering rehires, Swenson is a no-brainer,” he added.
According to a 1981 appropriations bill, HHS is mandated to annually adjust Census Bureau poverty-line figures for inflation and establish guidelines used by agencies and states to determine eligibility for various types of assistance.
Creating these guidelines involves a particular method that includes various adjustments and calculations, explained Ghertner. Swenson and three other team members would independently prepare the data and then collectively check its quality before releasing it each January.
Last week, everyone in Ghertner’s office was informed without warning that they were to be placed on administrative leave until June 1, after which their employment would officially terminate.
“There’s literally no one left in the government who knows how to compute the guidelines,” he said. “And since we are locked out of our computers, there’s no way to teach anyone how to calculate them.”
ASPE used to have around 140 employees but now has only about 40, according to a former staff member. The recent reorganization within HHS merged this office with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), whose staff has been reduced from 275 to approximately 80, according to a former AHRQ official who requested anonymity.
HHS has reported layoffs of about 10,000 employees, and combined with other actions, including a program encouraging early retirements, the department’s workforce has decreased by roughly 20,000. However, the agency has not specified where cuts were made or identified individual employees who were let go.
“These workers were told they weren’t allowed in their offices, so there’s been no knowledge transfer,” stated Wendell Primus, who worked at ASPE during the Bill Clinton administration. “They had no time to train anyone or transfer data.”
In defense of the dismissals, HHS stated that the merger of AHRQ and ASPE was “in line with Secretary Kennedy’s vision for streamlining HHS to better serve Americans,” according to spokesperson Emily Hilliard. “Critical programs within ASPE will continue in this new office,” she assured, adding that “HHS will continue to meet its statutory obligations” in a written statement to KFF Health News.
Following the publication of this article, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon reached out to KFF Health News, asserting that others within HHS could take over the responsibilities of the laid-off data analysis team, which comprised nine members. “The claim that this work will cease is entirely inaccurate,” he stated. “Eighty million people will not be impacted.”
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has so far declined to testify regarding the staffing reductions before congressional committees overseeing much of his agency. On April 9, a delegation of 10 Democratic lawmakers waited without success for a meeting in the agency’s lobby.
The group, led by House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee ranking member Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), expressed afterward that Kennedy must appear before the committee “and explain his plan for maintaining America’s health and preventing these severe cuts.”
Matt VanHyfte, a spokesperson for the Republican committee leadership, noted that HHS officials would meet with bipartisan committee staff on April 11 to discuss the firings and other policy matters.
ASPE acts as a think tank for the HHS secretary, explained Primus, who later served for 18 years as Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s senior health policy advisor. Besides the poverty guidelines, the office also determines how Medicaid funds are allocated to each state and reviews all regulations put forth by HHS agencies.
“These staffing cuts at HHS — 20,000 — are clearly unreasonable,” Primus remarked. “These decisions weren’t made by Kennedy or any HHS staff. They are being dictated by the White House. There seems to be no logic to their actions.”
Ghertner expressed concern that HHS leaders might be oblivious to their legal obligation to issue the poverty guidelines. If each state and federal agency sets its own guidelines, it could lead to inequities and potential litigation, he warned.
Moreover, sticking with the 2025 standards next year could endanger benefits for hundreds of thousands of Americans, Ghertner cautioned. Currently, the poverty level stands at $15,650 for an individual and $32,150 for a family of four.
“If you earn $30,000 and have three children, for instance, and next year your income increases to $31,000, but prices have surged by 7%, that $31,000 won’t have the same purchasing power,” he noted. “Yet if the guidelines remain unchanged, you might lose your eligibility for Medicaid.”
The 2025 poverty threshold for a family of five is set at $37,650.
As of October, approximately 79 million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or the related Children’s Health Insurance Program, both of which rely on means testing dependent on these poverty guidelines for eligibility.
Eligibility for premium subsidies for insurance plans available in Affordable Care Act marketplaces is also linked to the official poverty level.
One in eight Americans depends on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, and 40% of newborns and their mothers receive nutrition assistance through the Women, Infants, and Children program, both of which also use federal poverty levels for eligibility determinations.
Former members of the office insisted they held loyalty to the president’s agenda. They understood their roles aligned with the administration’s goals. “We were striving to support the MAHA agenda,” the social scientist mentioned, referring to Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative. “Even if it didn’t always match our personal beliefs, our aim was to be constructive.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom delivering in-depth journalism on health-related topics and is one of the core operational programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
