Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans.
In letters dated May 11, the Trump administration and RFK, Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms.
RFK Jr. fires leaders of group that determines what insurers must cover https://t.co/u6Z4le5wPB
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However, the task force has mostly been sidelined prior to their dismissal by the Department of Health and Human Services, including postponing scheduled public meetings over the past year.
The panel, which was first created in the 1980s, is composed of experts who scrutinize the latest evidence behind a variety of disease prevention tools, such as depression screenings and the use of statins to prevent heart attacks.
The panel also updates guidelines with letter grades showing the strength of the science.
Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans must cover preventive services given an “A” or “B” grade without requiring a co-pay.
According to reports, the termination letters don’t make clear why RFK, Jr. ousted Drs. John Wong and Esa Davis from the panel.
The New York Times reported that RFK, Jr. wrote that their “leadership, contributions and expertise” have advanced the task force’s work “to improve the health of Americans” and encouraged them to reapply.
He said he was reviewing task force appointments “to ensure clarity, continuity and confidence” in HHS oversight.
Kennedy told bipartisan lawmakers last month that he was reforming the task force, calling it “lackadaisical,” so that it would meet more frequently and “have, for the first time, transparency.”
The panel holds public meetings, opens its draft guidelines to public comment before finalizing them, and publishes the scientific evidence behind them.
Skeptical health advocates had worried that Kennedy was preparing to replace the expert panel with less experienced political appointees, as he had done with a critical vaccine advisory committee.
Over the past year, the task force wasn’t allowed to publish its final update to the cervical cancer screening guideline or take steps to update recommendations about maternal depression, said former task force chairman Dr. Michael Silverstein, a pediatrician.
“This is a level of government intrusion into scientific processes that I’ve not experienced in my 10 years on the task force,” he said.
The panel has staggered terms so that normally health secretaries can regularly appoint new members, making their mark on the task force without upending it, said Aaron Carroll of the nonpartisan health policy group AcademyHealth.
An HHS spokesman didn’t respond to inquiries about why the two doctors were fired at the time of publication.