Kennedy fires heads of task force that sets insurance coverage rules

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired the co-chairs of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force last week.

Why it matters: The move could open the task force up to more political influence. It comes as the administration prepares to vet new applicants to the committee, a process in which the chairs would typically be involved.

• The expert panel recommends which health services insurers must cover at no cost to patients under the Affordable Care Act.

State of play: Kennedy sent letters dated May 11 to John Wong, a professor and primary care clinician at Tufts University, and Esa Davis, a professor and family physician at University of Maryland, stating that their appointments as chairs would conclude effective immediately.

• Wong’s term was slated to last until mid-March 2027, and Davis’s term until mid-March 2028.
• HHS confirmed the dismissals and released copies of the letters but didn’t respond to follow-up questions.

The letters state the dismissals were an administrative decision unrelated to performance that followed a review of current task force appointments.

• “[T]he Department is taking this step to help protect the Task Force and preserve confidence in the continuity and durability of its work,” the letters say.
• The letters invite the chairs to reapply to serve on the panel.

Context: The Supreme Court last year upheld the authority of the HHS secretary to remove and replace task force members.

• Kennedy’s HHS has postponed the last several meetings of the panel. Applications for new members opened last month and close on Saturday, with terms for new members starting in June.
• The task force currently has eight active members.

Zoom in: Davis told Axios that she was “very shocked and confused” by the termination.

• The panel will be left without continuity and institutional knowledge, she said. Task force chairs help onboard new members and keep processes standard across recommendations.
• She’s also concerned about what will happen to the work the task force has done in the past year and a half that hasn’t been able to move forward yet.
• “It’s less about me and more… the incredible importance and value that these recommendation statements make in the lives of people being able to have access to those screenings and preventive medications and counseling in order to stay healthy,” Davis said, adding that she did reapply to the panel.
• Wong could not immediately be reached for comment.

Zoom out: Aaron Carroll, president of AcademyHealth, told Axios that he’s concerned about what the dismissals could mean for the future of the task force.

• “It could lead to political influence. It could lead to less rigor in the guidelines,” he said. “It could lead to evidence being used or misused to not only make recommendations but determine what Americans get covered by insurance without copay, and what prevention they will or will not have.”
• It’s not clear how new members for the panel will be chosen without active task force chairs, he said.

The story has been updated with additional reporting.

المصدر: Axios