Robert F Kennedy Jr has fired the two physicians chairing the US Preventive Services Task Force, the influential panel that decides which health screenings and preventive treatments insurers must cover without cost to patients.
The health secretary terminated Drs John Wong and Esa Davis in letters dated May 11, ending their appointments before their multiyear terms were set to conclude. Kennedy did not specify the reasons for the removals, though he praised their contributions and suggested they could reapply. In the letters, he indicated he was reviewing taskforce appointments to ensure what he called clarity, continuity and confidence in federal health oversight.
The firings cap months of friction between Kennedy and the taskforce, which the health secretary has characterized as operating in a lackadaisical manner. Last month, he told lawmakers he intended to reform the panel so it would meet more frequently and achieve what he described as new transparency standards.
The taskforce, established in the 1980s, reviews scientific evidence on disease prevention tools from depression screenings to statins for heart disease risk. It assigns letter grades reflecting the strength of supporting science. Under the Affordable Care Act, health plans must cover all preventive services graded A or B without requiring copayments, ensuring millions of Americans have access to these screenings and treatments at no direct cost.
Before Kennedy's firing letters arrived, the Department of Health and Human Services had already constrained the panel's operations. The agency indefinitely postponed scheduled public meetings over the past year, leaving critical guideline updates stalled, including revisions to cervical cancer screening recommendations and guidance on maternal depression screening.
Former taskforce chairman Dr Michael Silverstein, a pediatrician, described the disruptions as unprecedented government interference in scientific work. Over a decade of service on the panel, he said, he had never encountered this level of political pressure on the group's independence.
Kennedy has suggested the taskforce currently lacks adequate public transparency, even though the panel holds public meetings, solicits comment on draft guidelines before finalizing them, and publishes the scientific evidence underpinning its recommendations. Health advocates have expressed concern that the administration plans to replace expert panel members with political appointees, pointing to similar changes Kennedy made to vaccine advisory committees.
The taskforce typically operates with staggered membership terms that allow successive health secretaries to gradually reshape the group without dismantling it entirely. By terminating both chairs simultaneously, Kennedy has departed from this standard practice, giving him more immediate control over the panel's direction and future leadership.
Author James Rodriguez: "Firing the heads of the nation's preventive care authority without explanation while simultaneously muzzling the panel is a power grab dressed up as reform."
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