Washington D.C. – HHS secretary RFK Jr. piled on to the historic Trump Health Department leadership crisis today by firing two leaders of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force – an independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing evidence and making recommendations for what screenings, counseling, and preventive medications should come at no cost to patients under most insurance plans, by law.
As the NYT notes: ‘Over the past year, Mr. Kennedy has undermined the task force’s work by indefinitely postponing its last three meetings and not replacing members whose terms were scheduled to end in December.’ Meanwhile, STAT reports RFK Jr.’s NIH is still woefully behind in filling top posts, “with 15 of 27 institutes led by acting directors.”
“Secretary Kennedy is a chaos agent that believes the fewer qualified adults in the room at the Trump Health Department the better – resulting in the dangerous void of leadership we see today,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “RFK Jr. loves to silence medical experts because he prefers to dictate health policy based on vibes rather than on peer-reviewed data. But make no mistake: the longer RFK Jr. keeps this preventative task force in limbo, the more likely insured Americans will suffer even higher health costs and worse health outcomes. Deliberately inflating health care costs while making Americans sicker perfectly reflects Donald Trump’s detached views that affordability concerns are a ‘hoax’ and his admission that he doesn’t ever ‘think about Americans’ financial situation’.
Kennedy’s preventative task force obstruction and firings continue to keep it from finalizing at least four key draft recommendations, including to “screen adults for unhealthy alcohol use, endorse self-swabs for cervical cancer screening and provide counseling to women at increased risk for perinatal depression, as well as a recommendation against vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of fractures and falls in older people.”
Kennedy has had it out for the Task Force for some time. Last June, when the conservative U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s “requirement that most private insurers and Medicaid expansion programs cover preventive services recommended by U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” the Trump administration argued in legal briefs that Secretary Kennedy can veto Task Force recommendations, “something that no prior administration has ever done.”
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