Mere weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld insured Americans’ right to receive preventive care without out-of-pocket costs, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly preparing to remove all 16 members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the independent body that makes such coverage possible.
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According to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday, Kennedy believes the panel has become too “woke.” The task force’s acknowledgment of systemic racism as a health factor and use of inclusive language such as “pregnant persons” have drawn criticism from right-wing commentators and fueled efforts to replace its members. The Journal cited unnamed sources familiar with Kennedy’s thinking and noted that the July meeting of the task force was abruptly canceled.
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Since 1984, the USPSTF has issued evidence-based recommendations that guide physicians and determine what services health insurers must cover under the Affordable Care Act without cost-sharing. These include screenings for cancer, diabetes, and depression, as well as HIV prevention medications like PrEP. In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in Kennedy v. Braidwood that the task force was constitutionally appointed and that its recommendations remain legally binding for insurers.
While the ruling was widely seen as a victory for LGBTQ+ health equity and broader public health, the Court also affirmed that the HHS Secretary has the authority to remove task force members, a power Kennedy now appears ready to exercise.
The American Medical Association sent a letter to Kennedy on July 27 expressing “deep concern” over the reported plan and urging him to retain the current members and resume the task force’s regular meeting schedule.
“The USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians’ efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services,” wrote AMA Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Whyte. “USPSTF members have been selected through an open, public nomination process and are nationally recognized experts in primary care, prevention, and evidence-based medicine.”
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The AMA emphasized that insurers are legally required to cover USPSTF-recommended services without cost-sharing. That includes screenings for colon, breast, and lung cancer, as well as for anxiety and depression in children. Maintaining access to those services, the letter said, is essential to reducing preventable illness and health disparities.
Dr. Tina Tan, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, warned that the move could disrupt the nation’s already strained response to HIV, viral hepatitis, and congenital syphilis. “Our nation must significantly deepen its commitment to preventive health care, not undermine it,” she said in a statement.
Critics argue that Kennedy’s plan reflects a broader ideological agenda. In June, he dismissed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s entire vaccine advisory panel and replaced it with figures aligned with his views, many lacking formal public health expertise. The new panel has since questioned routine childhood vaccinations and promoted flu shots free of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in some multi-dose vaccine vials. Thimerosal has been falsely linked to autism, despite overwhelming scientific evidence confirming its safety.
Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington and member of the Senate Health Committee, criticized the reported effort. “In no world should experts be replaced with unqualified anti-science cronies of RFK Jr. who will make preventive health care more expensive and harder to get over baseless conspiracy theories or debunked disinformation,” she told The Journal.
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