Navy Reconsidering Plan to Cut Medical Staff in Light of COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Navy is reconsidering its plan to reduce medical staff -- part of a military-wide review of 18,000 proposed job cuts in health fields -- in response to lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the service's top doctor said Thursday.

As part of a massive effort to reform the military health system, the Defense Department announced in 2019 that the services would reduce their uniformed medical staff by roughly 18,000, mainly by attrition -- not filling jobs after a service member departs -- but also through reductions of billets.